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The Anti-Modernity of the French Philosopher Jean Brun

https://doi.org/10.30727/0235-1188-2019-62-9-7-18

Abstract

The article examines the French philosopher Jean Brun’s perception of the contemporary world, by analyzing the three pivotal components of Brun’s work, i.e., technology, language and sacredness. Modern people’s desperate attempts to escape their tragic destiny by trying to conceal the sacred lull human beings into an illusion of becoming creators of a technology-ruled space. In an attempt to escape the web of metaphysical anxiety associated with regrets, ontological Absence and separation, modern people hope to shelter behind the shield of materialism, horizontality and relativism. The article shows that, according to Jean Brun, technology and science are nothing but a veil, a painted veil with a sophisticated image of human deification. In an attempt at self-transformation, human beings, enslaved by technology, become the measure of all things. In their pursuit of absolute and ultimate knowledge, people focus their self-transformation on being rather than on cognition. Technology nurtured by excessive knowledge inevitably provokes alienation and robs humankind of humanistic, philosophical and religious sense. Finding themselves in an artificial, virtual reality where consumption and greed prevail, people easily reject objective reality. The instrumentalization of language enables standards and programs to plan all human activity. However, asking the question “Who am I?” instead of “What am I?”, human beings can cease seeing themselves in the center of the universe, can stop the process of alienation, can assess the world’s reality and the appeal of Everything Else.

About the Author

Christophe Réveillard
Paris-Sorbonne University
France
Christophe Réveillard - Doctor of History, Responsible for Research of the Center Roland Mousnier (UMR 8596), Paris-Sorbonne University / French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS); Lecturer, Paris Institute of Political Studies (Scinces Po); Deputy Secretary-General, French Committee of Historical Sciences (CFSH)


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Review

For citations:


Réveillard Ch. The Anti-Modernity of the French Philosopher Jean Brun. Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences. 2019;62(9):7-18. https://doi.org/10.30727/0235-1188-2019-62-9-7-18



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