Alain Finkielkraut

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Alain Finkielkraut (2014)

Alain Finkielkraut (born June 30, 1949 in Paris ) is a French philosopher and author . He is a member of the Académie française .

life and work

Finkielkraut is the son of a Polish-Jewish leather goods dealer who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp . Alain Finkielkraut attended the Paris Lycée Henri IV and studied at the École normal supérieure (ENS). He teaches philosophy at the École polytechnique and hosts a program on the French radio station France Culture .

Finkielkraut became known in Germany through Le nouveau désordre amoureux (1977; German 1979 udT Die neue Liebesunordnung ), written together with Pascal Bruckner . With the defeat of thinking (1987) begins his critique of “the barbarism of the modern world”, a critique that unfolds in the context of Hannah Arendt's thought . He vehemently opposes all cultural relativism : For example, criticizing the inequality between men and women in Islamic countries does not destroy their community. Anyone who speaks out against such a criticism with the claim of tolerance towards foreign cultures presupposes an outdated way of thinking in terms of cultural identity. Even cultural or religious minorities are protected without a culturally relativistic attitude, on the condition that they consider customs that mock the basic rights of the person to be illegal.

In 2000, Finkielkraut founded the Institut d'études lévinassiennes , named after Emmanuel Levinas, in Jerusalem together with Benny Lévy and Bernard-Henri Lévy . The current seat is Paris.

2007, he was awarded Tel Aviv University , the honorary doctorate . In 2010 Un cœur intelligent , an anthology of his readings, was awarded the Prix ​​de l'Essai .

On April 10, 2014 Finkielkraut was the French Academy elected, where he the place of Felicien Marceau took over. Finkielkraut's election was preceded by a debate that had sparked off his conservative positions, felt by some to be reactionary, especially those represented in his book L'identité malheureuse , published a few months earlier . Finkielkraut linked the topics of immigration and national identity and lamented the alleged decline of France, its educational institutions and its culture. The identity is particularly endangered by immigration. France has lost its homogeneity. The local population no longer determines the cultural line.

On the occasion of the publication of this book, the journalist Jean Birnbaum wrote about Finkielkraut: “Whether he is aware of it or not - his book is an expression of political upheaval. Just as Antonio Gramsci used to serve as a symbol of an apparently undogmatic CP in Italy, Alain Finkielkraut is now the model intellectual of a Front National that has apparently become acceptable in France. ”In 2013, Finkielkraut described the Front National as“ the only party that the French with their insecure identity seriously ”. He complained that critics of the Front National through certain positions allowed it and its leader Marine Le Pen to portray themselves as defenders of republican values.

In the 2017 presidential election campaign in France , Finkielkraut supported former Prime Minister Manuel Valls in the left's primaries ; among the possible presidential candidates, he spoke out against Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen in particular .

On February 16, 2019, Finkielkraut was the victim of anti-Semitic rabble during a demonstration by the yellow vests movement in Paris, the main perpetrator was identified as a radical Islamist known to the secret service . Finkielkraut himself said that he was attacked not as a Jew, but as a supporter of the State of Israel and that the cry "God will punish you" clearly indicates an Islamist background. The incident was criticized in France, including President Macron.

Works (selection)

  • (with Pascal Bruckner ) Le nouveau désordre amoureux . Éditions du Seuil, Paris 1977
  • (with Pascal Bruckner) Au coin de la rue, l'aventure.
    • The adventure just around the corner. Small manual of the art of everyday survival. Translation by Hainer Kober. Hanser, 1981
  • Le juif imaginaire.
    • The conceited Jew . Translation by Hainer Kober. Hanser, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-446-13562-6
  • La défaite de la pensée . Gallimard, Paris 1987
    • The defeat of thought . Translation of Nicola Volland. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1989, ISBN 3-499-12413-0
  • La mémoire vaine.
    • The vain memory. Of the crime against humanity. Translation by Frank Miething. Tiamat, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-923118-02-3
  • L'humanité perdue.
    • Loss of humanity. Attempt over the 20th century . Translation by Susanne Schaper. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-608-91903-1
  • L'ingratitude. Conversation sur notre temps.
    • The ingratitude. Thoughts about our time. Translation by Susanne Schaper. Ullstein, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89834-043-0
  • L'Explication.
  • L'identité malheureuse . Stock, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-234-07336-4
  • La Seule Exactitude . Stock, Paris 2015, ISBN 978-2-234-07897-0

literature

Web links

Commons : Alain Finkielkraut  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Honorary Degrees - Honorary Doctor of Philosophy. Tel Aviv University , accessed February 24, 2019 (list of honorary doctorates).
  2. ^ Élection de M. Alain Finkielkraut (F21). Académie française , April 10, 2014, accessed April 10, 2014 (French).
  3. ↑ David Caviglioli: Alain Finkielkraut, un guerrier à l'Académie Française. In: nouvelobs.com . April 10, 2014, accessed April 10, 2014 (French).
  4. ↑ Jürg Altwegg : No reason for indignation! Alain Finkielkraut elected to the Académie française. In: FAZ.net . April 11, 2014, accessed April 12, 2014 .
  5. ↑ Joseph Jurt : Language, Literature and National Identity - The Debates on the Universal and the Particular in France and Germany . De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2014, ISBN 978-3-11-034036-5 .
  6. ↑ Georg Blume : Political book: "Nationaler Zerfall". In: zeit.de . December 12, 2013, accessed December 13, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Florent Barraco: Primaire de la gauche: Finkielkraut en pince pour Valls. In: lepoint.fr . January 18, 2017, accessed December 13, 2017 (French).
  8. ↑ Jürg Altwegg : French election campaign: Left without a leading culture. In: FAZ.net . April 22, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Martina Meister: Alain Finkielkraut on anti-Semitism: "That is the rhetoric of the Islamists". In: welt.de . February 18, 2019, accessed February 22, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Alain Finkielkraut injurie: une enquête ouverte, identifié un suspect. In: lefigaro.fr. February 17, 2019, accessed March 8, 2019 (French).
  11. ↑ Georg Blume: The yellow pests. In: Spiegel Online . February 18, 2019, accessed February 18, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Eike Geisel : Eike Geisel on Alain Finkielkraut: The conceited Jew . In: Der Spiegel . No.  17 , 1982, pp. 228 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Finkielkraut, Alain
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French philosopher and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris