Previous Fora / 2003

Speakers

Professor Chantal Delsol

Professor of Philosophy
France

(based on web page of ISI Books)

 

Chantal Delsol is professor of philosophy at the University of Marne-La-Vallye near Paris. She obtained her degree from the department of Philosophy at Sorbonne, Paris in 1982. Professor Delsol founded and led the Center of European Research, and is a famous organizer and coordinator of many scholarly conferences and seminars. She authored the book, "Subsidiary State", for which she received an award from the Academy of Ethics and Political Research (France).

A prominent political philosopher in France, she is also a novelist. Her books include a study of twentieth-century political thought, a treatise on the principle of subsidiarity, and "Floge de la singularity: essai sur la modernity tardive", which will be published in the Crosscurrents series in 2004.

Her most recent book, "Icarus Fallen: The Search for Meaning in an Uncertain World" (ISI Books, 2003) is the first to be published in English.

According to Professor Delsol, morality completely distinguishes itself in the human civilization as a cultural asset, which is a relative and context-dependent achievement. A modern society must recognize that it is based on culture and is depended on mediations between the cultures.

In a recent discussion about New religious ferment in France, Delsol claims that the primary problem which faces Catholic social thought is the active prejudice against it in modern society. This is coupled with the loss of a common philosophical basis in which to express it (a common anthropology) and a distrust of anything that claims to teach, to form, to guide, in short, to contain "doctrine".

 

Resources on the Web

University of Marne-La-Vallye:
http://www.univ-mlv.fr/

Publishers site about her new book:
http://www.isibooks.org/books/343/