Abstract
The Frankfurt School was imported into France quite late: it was in the mid-1970s that translations and commentaries multiplied. At issue here is the relationship between the method and means of importation and the intellectual state of critical theory at this time. First, we will analyze the intellectual development of the young philosophers who were dominant in the field: they were striving both to affirm the legitimacy of imported authors and to present these authors as bearers of a new form of radicalism, distinct from previous varieties, such as neo-Marxist, structuralist, désirant, and deconstructionist. Claiming to be open minded and opposed to all orthodoxies (whether political or academic), these philosophers helped to impose a philosophical model that was based on “emancipatory” aspirations, uncontamined by the course of History.
This chapter was translated by Camille Joseph. The quotations have been translated by her whenever there was no English translation.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
From the start, this question has been central to commentators. See, for example, Assoun (1987).
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The French journal Recherches philosophiques, perhaps the closest to the Zeitschrift, was not linked to any research center and was not identified as Marxist.
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Gallimard benefited from the collaboration of Boris de Schloezer, who specialized in “new music.” He had written a book on Stravinsky, whom Adorno had also worked on.
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There were five PhDs in the 1990s. In the 1970s and 1980s, PhDs on Adorno were brief dissertations, with the exception of that by Marc Jimenez.
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However, it was in the series “Le sens commun,” whose director was Pierre Bourdieu, that Raison et révolution. Hegel et la naissance de la théorie sociale was published in 1968, with an introduction by Robert Castel.
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It became necessary to face “both the condescending contempt of the reactionary right, which was anxious to show that Adorno was powerless to explain the present reality, and the aggressive invectives of the Communists” (Jimenez 1973, 40).
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It was only partial, because there was no discussion about turning back to authors such as Axelos, Goldmann, Lefebvre, and Sartre .
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In their study of the Frankfurt School, “traditional” Marxists such as André Tosel (1974), close to the PCF, and Jean-Marie Vincent, close to Trotskyism, highlighted the idealist and theoretical deviations of the School.
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The ambiguity that accounts for the success of CT may be dissimulated in two ways: either by putting forward the “dialectic,” which tolerates all kinds of paradoxes on the part of the commentators, or by celebrating the incredible “openness” of a theory that is never fixed, expressing itself through fragments, aphorisms, and periodical redefinitions of its programs and projects.
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———. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Ed. John Thompson. Translated by Gino Raymond and Matthew Adamson. London: Polity Press.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Marcuse in France
Books by Marcuse
Herbert Marcuse. 1963a. Le Marxisme soviétique. French trans. Bernard Cazes. Paris: Gallimard.
———. 1963b. Eros et civilisation. Contribution à Freud. French trans. J.-G. Nény and B. Fraenkel. Paris: Minuit.
———. 1968a. Raison et révolution. Hegel et la naissance de la théorie sociale. French trans. R. Castel and F. H. Gontier, Présentation by R. Castel. Paris: Minuit.
———. 1968b. L’Homme unidimensionnel. French trans. M. Wittig, Paris: Minuit.
———. 1968c. La fin de l’utopie. French trans. L. Roskopf and L. Weibel. Paris: Seuil.
———. 1969a. Philosophie et révolution. French trans. C. Heim. Paris: Denoël.
———. 1969b. Vers la libération. Au-delà de l’homme unidimensionnel. French trans. J.-B. Grasset. Paris: Minuit.
———. 1970. Culture et société. French trans. G. Billy, D. Bresson and J.-B. Grasset. Paris: Minuit.
———. 1971. Pour une théorie critique de la société. French trans. C. Heim. Paris: Denoël.
———. 1972. L’Ontologie de Hegel et la théorie de l’historicité. French trans. G. Raulet and H. A. Baatsch, Preface by M. Cranaki. Paris: Minuit.
Books on Marcuse
Michel Ambacher. 1969. Marcuse et la critique de la société américaine. Paris: Aubier.
André Vergez. 1970. Marcuse. Paris: PUF.
Alasdair MacIntyre. 1970. Marcuse. Paris: Seghers.
André Nicolas. 1970. Marcuse. Paris: Seghers.
Jean-Michel Palmier. 1973. Marcuse et la nouvelle gauche. 1973. Paris: Belfond.
Alain Cohen. 1974. Marcuse: le scénario freudo-marxien. Paris: Éditions universitaires.
Special Issues
“Connaissez-vous Marcuse?” 1969. Esprit, January.
“Marcuse, cet inconnu.” 1969. La Nef, January–March.
“Nouvelle actualité du marxisme.” 1968. Diogène 64.
Appendix 2: Adorno-Horkheimer in France in the 1970s
In this period, the main translations were published in the following order:
Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno and Hans Eisler. 1972. Musique de cinéma. French trans. J-P. Hammer. Paris: L’Arche.
———. 1974. Théorie esthétique. French trans. M. Jimenez. Paris: Klincksieck.
———. 1976a. Mahler: une physionomie musicale. Translated and presented by Jean-Louis Leleu and Theo Leydenbach. Paris: Minuit.
———. 1976b. Autour de la théorie esthétique: paralipomena, introduction première. French trans. M. Jimenez and E. Kaufholz. Paris: Klincksieck.
———. 1978. Dialectique negative. French trans. by the translation group of the Collège de philosophie, postface by Hans-Günther Holl. Paris: Payot.
Horkheimer
Max Horkheimer. 1974a. Eclipse de la raison suivi de raison et conservation de soi. French trans. J. Debouzy and J. Laizé. Paris: Payot.
———. 1974b. Théorie traditionnelle et théorie critique. French trans. C. Maillard and S. Muller. Paris: Gallimard.
Habermas
Jürgen Habermas. 1973. La Technique et la science comme “idéologie.” Trans. and preface by Jean-René Ladmiral. Paris: Gallimard.
———. 1974. Profils philosophiques et politiques. French trans. Françoise Dastur, Jean-René Ladmiral and Marc B. de Launay, preface by Jean-René Ladmiral. Paris: Gallimard.
———. 1975. Théorie et pratique. French trans. Gérard Raulet, Paris: Payot.
———. 1976. Connaissance et intérêt. French trans. Gérard Clémençon, preface by Jean-René Ladmiral. Paris: Gallimard.
———. 1978a. Raison et légitimité: problèmes de légitimation dans le capitalisme avancé. French trans. Jean Lacoste. Paris: Payot.
———. 1978b. L’Espace public: archéologie de la publicité comme dimension constitutive de la société bourgeoise. French trans. Marc B. de Launay. Paris: Payot.
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Pinto, L. (2020). The Importation of the “Frankfurt School” (and “Critical Theory”) in France. In: Sapiro, G., Santoro, M., Baert, P. (eds) Ideas on the Move in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Socio-Historical Studies of the Social and Human Sciences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35024-6_5
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