Lucid Mind, Intrepid Spirit

Essays on the Thought of Chantal Delsol

Lauren K. Hall, Paul Seaton

• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Year: 2012
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780739167694
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This volume of essays explores the bases and significant aspects of the thought of contemporary French philosopher, historian of ideas, and novelist Chantal Delsol. A member of the French Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, she is well known in France as a political analyst and cultural diagnostician. This collection is the first book-length treatment of her thought available in English, bringing together studies that analyze her work. In between, essays present her remarkable portrait of human beings increasingly characteristic of Western societies, as well as her defense of the human person rightly understood. An exposition of the virtues of her conception of the family, as well as her analysis of contemporary "matriarchy," complements those treatments. The authors highlight her unique mode of cultural analysis, together with her stout defense of genuine political life. The volume also includes translations of two chapters of her fundamental work of philosophical anthropology, Qu'est-ce que l'homme?, appearing here for the first time in English. A thoughtful examination of Delsol's work, this book provides new resources to those studying this French philosopher and author.

Table of contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Part I: Translations of Qu’est-ce que l’homme? Cours familier d’anthropologie (What Is Man? A Popular Course of Anthropology)
• 2 Conclusion to Qu’est-ce que l’homme? Cours familier d’anthropologie (What Is Man? A Popular Course of Anthropology)
• Part II: Responses and Elaborations
• 4 Delsol on Human Rights and Personal Dignity
• 5 The Charms of Indeterminateness
• 6 Roles, Functions, and Subsidiarity
• Index
• About the Editors