Jean Wahl
Encyclopedia
Jean André Wahl was a French
philosopher.
from 1936 to 1967, broken by World War II
. He was in the U.S.
from 1942 to 1945, having been interned as a Jew at the Drancy internment camp
(north-east of Paris
) and then escaped.
He began his career as a follower of Henri Bergson
and the American pluralist philosophers William James
and George Santayana
. He is known as one of those introducing Hegelian thought in France in the 1930s, ahead of Alexandre Kojève
's more celebrated lectures. He was also a champion in French thought of the Danish
proto-existentialist Kierkegaard. These enthusiasms, which became the significant books Le malheur de la conscience dans la philosophie de Hegel (1929) and Études kierkegaardiennes (1938) were controversial, in the prevailing climate of thought. However, he influenced a number of key thinkers including Emmanuel Levinas
and Jean-Paul Sartre
. In the second issue of Acéphale
, Georges Bataille
's review, Jean Wahl wrote an article titled Nietzsche
and the Death of God, concerning Karl Jaspers
' interpretation of this work. He became known as an anti-systematic philosopher, in favour of philosophical innovation and the concrete.
founded a 'university in exile', the École Libre des Hautes Études
, in New York
. Later, at Mount Holyoke
where he had a position, he set up the Décades de Mount Holyoke, also known as Pontigny-en-Amérique, modelled on meetings run from 1910 to 1939 by Paul Desjardins at the site of the Cistercian abbey
of Pontigny
in Burgundy. These successfully gathered together French intellectual
s in wartime exile, ostensibly studying the English language, with Americans including Marianne Moore
, Wallace Stevens
and Roger Sessions
. Wahl, already a published poet, made translations of poems of Stevens into French.
, influential center for non-conformist intellectuals, alternative to the Sorbonne. Starting in 1950, he headed the Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale
.
Wahl translated the second hypothesis of the Parmenides
of Plato
as "Il y a de l'Un", and Lacan adopted his translation as a central point in psychoanalysis, as a sort of antecedent in the Parmenides of the analytic discourse. This is the existential sentence of psychoanalytic discourse according to Lacan, and the negative one is "Il n'ya pas de rapport sexuel" — there is no such a thing as a sexual relationship.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
philosopher.
Early career
He was professor at the SorbonneUniversity of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
from 1936 to 1967, broken by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He was in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from 1942 to 1945, having been interned as a Jew at the Drancy internment camp
Drancy internment camp
The Drancy internment camp of Paris, France, was used to hold Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps. 65,000 Jews were deported from Drancy, of whom 63,000 were murdered including 6,000 children...
(north-east of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) and then escaped.
He began his career as a follower of Henri Bergson
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
and the American pluralist philosophers William James
William James
William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a physician. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism...
and George Santayana
George Santayana
George Santayana was a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States and identified himself as an American. He wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters...
. He is known as one of those introducing Hegelian thought in France in the 1930s, ahead of Alexandre Kojève
Alexandre Kojève
Alexandre Kojève was a Russian-born French philosopher and statesman whose philosophical seminars had an immense influence on twentieth-century French philosophy, particularly via his integration of Hegelian concepts into continental philosophy...
's more celebrated lectures. He was also a champion in French thought of the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
proto-existentialist Kierkegaard. These enthusiasms, which became the significant books Le malheur de la conscience dans la philosophie de Hegel (1929) and Études kierkegaardiennes (1938) were controversial, in the prevailing climate of thought. However, he influenced a number of key thinkers including Emmanuel Levinas
Emmanuel Lévinas
Emmanuel Levinas was a Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic commentator.-Life:Emanuelis Levinas received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania...
and Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
. In the second issue of Acéphale
Acéphale
Acéphale designates both a public review created by Georges Bataille and a secret and esoteric society formed by Bataille and some other members who had sworn to keep silence.-Acéphale, the review:Dated 24 June 1936, the first issue was composed of only eight pages...
, Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille was a French writer. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art...
's review, Jean Wahl wrote an article titled Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
and the Death of God, concerning Karl Jaspers
Karl Jaspers
Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system...
' interpretation of this work. He became known as an anti-systematic philosopher, in favour of philosophical innovation and the concrete.
In exile
While in the USA, Wahl with Gustave Cohen and backed by the Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
founded a 'university in exile', the École Libre des Hautes Études
École libre des hautes études
The École Libre des Hautes Études was a sort of university-in-exile for French academics in New York during the Second World War. It was chartered by the French and Belgian governments-in-exile and located at the New School for Social Research...
, in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Later, at Mount Holyoke
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...
where he had a position, he set up the Décades de Mount Holyoke, also known as Pontigny-en-Amérique, modelled on meetings run from 1910 to 1939 by Paul Desjardins at the site of the Cistercian abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
of Pontigny
Pontigny Abbey
Pontigny Abbey, founded in 1114 as the second of the four great daughter houses of Cîteaux Abbey, was a Cistercian monastery situated in the commune of Pontigny, on the River Serein, in the present diocese of Sens and department of Yonne, in Burgundy, France.-History:Hildebert , a canon of...
in Burgundy. These successfully gathered together French intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s in wartime exile, ostensibly studying the English language, with Americans including Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...
, Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
and Roger Sessions
Roger Sessions
Roger Huntington Sessions was an American composer, critic, and teacher of music.-Life:Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendent of Samuel Huntington, a signer of...
. Wahl, already a published poet, made translations of poems of Stevens into French.
Post World War II
In post-war France Wahl was an important figure, as a teacher and editor of learned journals. In 1946 he founded the Collège philosophiqueCollège philosophique
Collège philosophique was an association founded in 1946 by Jean Wahl, located in Paris' Latin Quarter.Wahl created it feeling the lack of a place alternative to the Sorbonne , where it would be possible to give voice to non academic discourses; it became the place where the non-conformist...
, influential center for non-conformist intellectuals, alternative to the Sorbonne. Starting in 1950, he headed the Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale
Revue de métaphysique et de morale
The Revue de métaphysique et de morale is a French philosophy journal co-founded in 1893 by Léon Brunschvicg, Xavier Léon and Élie Halévy. The journal initially appeared six times a year, but since 1920 has been published quarterly...
.
Wahl translated the second hypothesis of the Parmenides
Parmenides (Plato)
Parmenides is one of the dialogues of Plato. It is widely considered to be one of the more, if not the most, challenging and enigmatic of Plato's dialogues....
of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
as "Il y a de l'Un", and Lacan adopted his translation as a central point in psychoanalysis, as a sort of antecedent in the Parmenides of the analytic discourse. This is the existential sentence of psychoanalytic discourse according to Lacan, and the negative one is "Il n'ya pas de rapport sexuel" — there is no such a thing as a sexual relationship.
Further reading
- Emmanuel LévinasEmmanuel LévinasEmmanuel Levinas was a Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic commentator.-Life:Emanuelis Levinas received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania...
, Paul Ricœur and Xavier TillietteXavier TillietteXavier Tilliette is a French philosopher, historian of philosophy and theologian, born on July 23, 1921, in Corbie . Former student of Jean Wahl and of Vladimir Jankélévitch, he is a member of the Society of Jesus and professor emeritus at the Catholic Institute of Paris , at the Pontifical...
, Jean Wahl et Gabriel Marcel, Beauchesne, 1976, 96 p., ISBN 2701002400