Spiritualism and Phenomenology
The Case of Maine de Biran
- Philosophy
- Publisher: Cascade Books (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
The conflict between spiritualism and phenomenology will no longer take place. Better, it is through their encounter and their backlash that a new fruitfulness for thought will develop. The case of Maine de Biran thus comes to exemplify a new beginning a la francaise for metaphysics on the one hand and for phenomenology on the other. But the philosopher from Bergerac (in the Dordogne) is most often read according to his explicit meaning and not his implicit one. He is supposedly the thinker of "freedom and consciousness" (spiritualism) or of the "inner self and the lived body" (phenomenology). But these readings forget the exceptions to the primitive fact of "internal effort" (illness, sleep, sleepwalking, madness, the body-object, the outer self . . .), which mark Biran's oeuvre as one of the summits of a thought that escapes phenomenality and confers a real consistency upon corporeality. A new "Columbus of metaphysics," as he himself names himself, Maine de Biran, read "otherwise," initiates for today a new beginning for thought.
Endorsements (4)
“Maine de Biran was an important influence upon French spiritualist metaphysics and upon French phenomenology. In this stimulating book, Emmanuel Falque suggests that, in his complexly engaged life and in his subtle and private thought, Biran mediated both perspectives through a more complex understanding of human interiority as being embodied and ecstatically aspiring. The view that this ultimately led him to the embrace of a Christian vision of reality is also convincingly expounded and defended here. A vital contribution to the remarkable revival of Biranianism in our own day.”
“In this pioneering book, Emmanuel Falque reanimates a much neglected dialogue between the spiritualism of Maine de Biran—the Columbus of metaphysics—and cutting-edge contemporary phenomenology. The result: a bracing hermeneutics of the flesh which explores the human body as at once foreign and familiar, alienated and effortful, tactile and metaphysical. A truly vital intellectual encounter.”
“Spiritualism and Phenomenology is another masterclass from Emmanuel Falque, one in which he introduces the exceptional but neglected thought of Maine de Biran to a contemporary readership. An invaluable resource for those working toward understanding the resources and the limits of phenomenology. Sarah Horton’s translation is both faithful to Falque’s text and eminently readable. A gift to students of phenomenology.”
“Falque’s Spiritualism and Phenomenology is a magnificent effort. By showing how Maine de Biran acts as a precursor of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, and Michel Henry, Falque’s reading of Biran in counter-relief will surprise and fascinate many. The book also elucidates Falque’s recent work on extra-phenomenality by giving us some beautiful pages on the experience of pain and suffering.”
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