Finkielkraut Alain

Corresponding members I. Department of Social Sciences
Finkielkraut Alain

Date of birth:

  • 1949

Place of birth:

  • Pariz

Finkielkraut Alain

Corresponding members I. Department of Social Sciences

Academic titles:

  • Doctor of Science

Membership in the Academy:

  • corresponding member – Department of Social Sciences (12/3/1992 – …)

Curriculum Vitae

Alain Finkielkraut, a French philosopher, and journalist of Jewish origin was born in Paris on June 30, 1949. From 1989 to 2014 he taught philosophy and the history of ideas at the Polytechnic School (École polytechnique) in Paris. Member of the French Academy since 2014. He edited (1990–96) the magazine Le Messager européen , after which he hosted the radio contact show Répliques in which he debates with intellectuals and authors of recent books on social and political issues.

In his work, he relies in part on the philosophy of E. Levinas. Most significant is his philosophical contribution to the critique of modernity, especially the critique of progressivism, the understanding of human rights and pointing out the problems in the modern understanding of culture.

In the 1990s, Finkielkraut spoke and wrote about the war events in Yugoslavia and in European public and intellectual circles he condemned the Milosević’s regime and aggression and advocated for Croatia’s independence and the justification of the Homeland War.

Main works: Le Juif imaginaire, 1981, La Sagesse de l’amour, 1984, La Défaite de la pensée, 1987, Comment peut-on être Croate, 1992, L’Humanité perdue, 1996, Nous autres, modernes, 2006, Philosophie et modernité , 2008, Un cœur intelligent, 2010.

Since 1992, he has been a correspondent member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.