PhilOfr – République des Savoirs

International Center for the Study of Contemporary French Philosophy

The Centre international d’étude de la philosophie française contemporaine (International Center for the Study of Contemporary French Philosophy) was founded in 2002. It was renamed PhilOfr in 2022. It supports research into 20th and 21st-Century French philosophy, in its singularity and its diversity, in its history and its current practices.

PhilOfr also seeks to confront French contemporary philosophy to other major philosophical movements, and examine the ways in which its rich and varied tradition interacts with developments in science, politics, ethics, and the arts – especially literature.

Its research project is organized in four main axes.

History of contemporary French philosophy: figures and moments

PhilOfr studies the philosophical “moments” (F. Worms) of the twentieth century, in their unity and diversity, in their dialogues and their ruptures, right up to the present day. It investigates how the “moment of the living” currently intersects with ecological questions as well as with issues related to urgency, care and society. It also aims to reinscribe the great figures of French philosophy – from Bergson to Serres, via Brunschvicg, Sartre, Weil, Beauvoir, Jankélévitch, Aron, Canguilhem, Derrida, Nancy, Fontenay… – in a history that they all have helped to shape and also theorized.

Corpuses and archives: constitution and methods

PhilOfr reflects on the construction of philosophical and literary canons, and their social and political implications, as well as on the transmission and renewal of philosophical corpuses. In this spirit, PhilOfr hosts and supports several large-scale editorial projects dedicated to contemporary French philosophy.

Concepts, problems, and styles of thought

PhilOfr seeks to situate the problems (metaphysical, and also hermeneutical, phenomenological, or ecosophical) it investigates in their long history. It therefore inquires into their transformations and continuities throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Philosophy in relation: literature, arts, epistemology, politics, ecology, ethics, and care

At PhilOfr, various practices are mobilized to further the dialogue of contemporary French philosophy with the sciences, arts and humanities. In 2022, PhilOfr created an Ecological Humanities axis at the ENS-PSL, as well as an International Network of Contemporary French Philosophy, in order to expose itself to other forms of thought, traditions and languages. PhilOfr also promotes an active policy of research dissemination, via its various “carnets” (PhilOfr, Pôle Proust, Animots), as well as the development of new writing formats. At doctoral level, it supports the Prix Recherche au présent.