French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. de Libera, Where is Medieval Philosophy Heading?
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Alain de Libera, Où va la philosophie médiévale ?
Paris: Fayard / Collège de France, 2014.
72 p.
EAN 9782213682020
10.20 EUR
Publisher's overview:
Where is medieval philosophy heading? It goes wherever philosophy is. It is wherever philosophy is heading. It became medieval once the Middle Ages had passed. It was simply philosophy when the Middle Ages were still the saeculum modernorum, the "Age of the Moderns," to those who lived through them. Today, it goes wherever anyone wishing to narrate—that is, to connect—its history must go. The archaeology of the subject draws us, in any case, across both space and time, from the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) to 18th-century Scottish philosophy, 19th-century Austrian philosophy, and finally to the "deconstruction of deconstruction" of the third millennium. It stands as an Averroist project for post-postmodernism.
Alain de Libera is a philosopher. He has taught at the Section of Religious Sciences (Ve Section) of the École Pratique des Hautes Études and at the University of Geneva. Since March 2013, he has been a professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair of History of Medieval Philosophy.
Published by Fayard and originating from the Collège de France lectures, this essay reflects on the shifting boundaries, scope, and ongoing relevance of medieval philosophy. Alain de Libera examines how intellectual history moves fluidly across centuries, stretching from early Christian theology and the Council of Chalcedon through to modern analytical traditions and contemporary philosophical deconstruction. Rather than viewing the medieval period as a closed historical epoch, the text positions its conceptual inquiries within a vast archaeological continuum that directly engages with the philosophical concerns of the modern era.
This concise volume is especially useful for students, researchers, and general readers of intellectual history who seek to rethink traditional periodization in philosophy. By tracing connections to eighteenth-century Scottish philosophy and nineteenth-century Austrian thought, the author demonstrates how medieval thinkers anticipated or paralleled later debates. It offers valuable perspective for anyone interested in the historiography of ideas, the mechanics of philosophical transmission, and the enduring vitality of scholastic and Averroist traditions within contemporary post-postmodern discourse.