The mediocracy : French philosophy since the mid-1970s / Dominique Lecourt ; translated by Gregory Elliott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lecourt, Dominique.

Standardized Title:

Piètres penseurs. English

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Philosophy, French--20th century.

Philosophy, French.

Physical Description:

xv, 240 pages ; 20 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Verso, 2001.

Language Note:

Translated from the French.

Summary:

According to Dominique Lecourt, a veritable counter-revolution in French thought has seen the period of the "master-thinkers" of the 1960s succeeded by an era of generalized mediocrity. Where Althusser or Lacan, Foucault or Derrida once held centre stage, today restorationist currents prevail in the academy and on television sets. Fuelled by a complaisant media, the contemporary French ideology seeks neither to interpret nor to change the world, but is instead content to legitimate a globally hegemonic neo-liberalism.

Contents:

The Mediocracy 1

1 Baby Boom 6

2 Sixties Militants 10

3 A Fiction: 'La Pensee 68' 24

4 Michel Foucault's Power 33

5 The Burial of Leftism 46

6 Gilles Deleuze's Battle 55

7 The Liberal Transmutation of the French Libertarian 60

8 Death and Resurrection of the Intellectual 67

9 Good, Evil and Wisdom 76

10 The Heady Lures of Love 98

11 Machiavelli in Carpet Slippers 113

Appendix Dissidence or Revolution? 139.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [222]-232) and index.

ISBN:

1859847935

OCLC:

44905114