Encre Marine Frankfurt Catalog 2011

Catalog 2011

ENCRE MARINE

Foreign Rights

ENCRE MARINE www.encre-marine.com Foreign rights 95 boulevard Raspail - F 75006 Paris - France Droits étrangers - Foreign Rights Marie-Pierre Ciric Téléphone 33 (0)1 43 54 47 57 E-mail : mpciric@lesbelleslettres.com Illustration couverture : copyright Michel Denis / Encre Marine

Table des Matières Contents

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Philosophie / Sciences humaines - Paul AUDI, L’empire de la compassion - Marcel CONCHE, Orientation philosophique - François DAGOGNET, L’argent. Philosophie déroutante de la monnaie - Michel GUERIN, Le fardeau du monde. De la consolation

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L’empire de la compassion The Empire of compassion In our globalised cultural environment, compassion has gradually become the sign of our inner “humanity.”

Today, its control over morality as well as the image which people have of themselves and of their social and political relations, is so indisputable that an ideology as recent as that of “Care” (care, solicitude, concern about others, willingness to help others) is becoming a fully integral part of it. What can account for the development of such an empire?

To understand this, we need to ask ourselves when and how did human virtue become identified with compassion?

Answering that question is one of the objectives of this essay, whose point of departure lies in the articulation of the following philosophical problem: is compassion a matter of love or of justice?

It seems to the author that, once compassion has been defined and the key steps of its conceptual history (from Aristotle to Levinas) retraced, special emphasis should be given to the position taken by Nietzche, for whom the respect of unhappiness that we impose on ourselves in the name of morality represents the worst misfortune that can strike humanity as a whole.

In our globalised cultural environment, compassion has gradually become the sign of our inner “humanity.”

Today, its control over morality as well as the image which people have of themselves and of their social and political relations, is so indisputable that an ideology as recent as that of “Care” (care, solicitude, concern about others, willingness to help others) is becoming a fully integral part of it. What can account for the development of such an empire?

To understand this, we need to ask ourselves when and how did human virtue become identified with compassion?

Answering that question is one of the objectives of this essay, whose point of departure lies in the articulation of the following philosophical problem: is compassion a matter of love or of justice?

It seems to the author that, once compassion has been defined and the key steps of its conceptual history (from Aristotle to Levinas) retraced, special emphasis should be given to the position taken by Nietzche, for whom the respect of unhappiness that we impose on ourselves in the name of morality represents the worst misfortune that can strike humanity as a whole.

A short, dense and clear text which focuses on the essential

March 2011 152 pages

Paul Audi, a philosopher, is the author of a dozen works devoted primarily to the relationship between ethics and aesthetics.

Orientation philosophique Philosophical Orientation: Essay on Deconstruction The great post-Descartes philosophers of the classic era formulated a metaphysics which claimed to have rediscovered, through reason, the truths behind faith: creationist metaphysics. Yet the idea of God is not endorsed by modern reason, which, since Kant, has been a moral reason. The so-called work of God encompasses what can no longer be overlooked: absolute evil. Yet, having abandoned the idea of God, what now falls apart, piece by piece, are all the concepts once linked to this idea – hence accomplishing the “deconstruction” which is the aim of this book. The latter paves the way, by reducing our perceptions to the “nothingness of life” – herein referred to as “Appearance” – for what Conche will call, in his future works, a “metaphysics of nature” (phusis) to replace the former God, which is thus “deconstructed.” By accepting a return to Greek reasoning and reliance on Milet, Elea , and Ephesus, something new can be constructed.

Conche’s philosophical masterwork which deconstructed traditional metaphysics, reproduced from the original edition (published by Éditions de Mégare), once again gives readers access to all of the original articles, as well as a re-edit of the two articles eliminated from the PUF version.

March 2011 336 pages

Marcel Conche, Professor Emeritus at the Sorbonne and a member of the Athens Academy, has written numerous books published by Éditions Encre Marine, Albin Michel, and most notably by Presses Universitaires de France (in its «Perspectives critiques» and “Épiméthée” collections).

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L’argent. Philosophie déroutante de la monnaie The Disconcerting Philosophy of Money The author does not engage in today’s debates on politics or monetary science, but prefers a philosophical discussion of money, inspired by the masterful writings of authors from Aristotle to Condillac, and Adam Smith to Marx.

He considers money an object which really isn’t one: a position which already sets him apart. What is more, whoever lacks money can borrow some (a virtual wealth, a strange asset which belongs to me, yet isn’t mine).

This work will undoubtedly prove that this means of payment has never stopped losing its lustre (paper currency will replace metal, and ultimately a mere signature will suffice).

However, it is essential that money be backed by a referent whose value must exceed what it guarantees.

This book tackles many issues, notably those of gratuity (or donations ), taxation, usury, trade and fair price.

What the author creates in these pages is a “science of wealth” inseparable from work – the opposite of speculation.

Money – a “super-object” which really isn’t an object – is not just a means to an end; its power can ruin even the most prosperous!

March 2011 144 pages

François Dagognet is a philosopher who taught in several secondary schools before joining the Faculté des Lettres of Lyon, and, more recently, that of Paris I-Sorbonne.

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Le fardeau du monde. De la consolation The world’s burden : Consolation Although human beings have always been inclined to seek some sort of consolation to ease their misery or to mask the absurdity of their lives, it appears that this pressing need has only grown more intense in modern times.

This book explores the ways in which Schopenhauer and Nietzsche perceived this topic, both of them being ambiguous heirs of a Kant who only sublimated desire in order to subjugate it to law. In the writings of the latter two authors, consolation seems to be the point at which existence and thought blend together. As early as with the Birth of the tragedy, Nietzsche sought to endow the term with new meaning. For him art does not ease the pain of life, it exalts it and does it justice. Instead of a palliative, consolation becomes a consent to all of existence. The problem is to determine whether this opposition is as clear-cut as it is said to be. Doesn’t the purportedly affirmative thought of eternal return also encompass – as much and even more so than it denies – a petrifying horror?

In the continuum of previous research, Michel Guérin strives, by closely studying the works of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, to draw the outline of what he calls the mad desire – lost, confused and drunk with its own prodigiousness. In his view, this drama shapes modern thought and remains unresolved in this rightly or wrongly called “post-modern” era. In short, how can the ambition of a meaning, and the accidental management of an insatiable and orphan power, be expressed in a singular experience ?

This book, which focuses on Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, demonstrates that life is excess and that only life can console humanity for being alive

March 2011 336 pages

Michel Guerin, is a writer and philosopher who has written some twenty works since his first book, Nietzsche, Socrate héroique (Grasset, 1975). Until 2009, he headed the LESA (Laboratoire d’Études en Sciences des Arts) at Université de Provence. He is a university professor and a member of the Institut universitaire de France (2005-2010) and is teaching aesthetics in Aix-en-Provence.

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