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JEAN HYPPOLITE

A Chronology fFrenchExistentialismIt seems to me that,roughly peaking, ourperiods may be distin-guished in the evolution of what has been called French Exis-tentialism. ut it is difficulto define reciselywhat s to be under-stoodby Existentialism,nd to distinguishhatmovement rom therphilosophicalmovementswhich would have existedwithout t buthave moreor lessundergonets nfluence.FIRSTOR PREPARATORYERIOD: This period includes the yearswhichprecededthewar of 1939 and thoseof thewar and occupa-tion. t was chieflyharacterizedya renascence fHegelianstudiesin France. Much attentionwas paid to Hegel's ideas, especiallytothePhenomenology f Mind. For years beforethen,Hegel's actionin France had been veryweak. The rediscoveryf his philosophyby both Jean Wahl (Le Malheur de la conscience), by Kojeve(Introduction la lecturede Hegel) and by myself translation fthe Phenomenology-Genesisand Structure)exerteda profoundinfluence, oth positiveand negative.Christian nd atheisticExis-tentialismpring rom hedirect nfluencefHegel andfrom protestagainst his system.It was also duringthispreparatory eriod that the influence fcontemporaryermanphilosophywas felt, fHusserl ndHeidegger.Sartre,through masterlymisinterpretationf Heidegger,derivedfromhim an atheistic nd humanistic hilosophy.His earliestnovel,Nausea, and his book on the maginary ppearedbeforeWorldWarII; The Flies, during heyearsof occupation.SECONDPERIOD: This is theperiodwhich followedthe war andwas markedbythetriumphf French Existentialism. he ChristianExistentialismf GabrielMarcel and EmmanuelMouniercontinuedto develop,withMarcel in particular, y taking ssue withSartrianExistentialism, hichenjoyedfashion'sfavors.Merleau-Pontyhenappearedas an originaldiscipleof Sartre;Jeanson tressed artre'smoralconcern,n the traditionf theFrenchmoralists; heessentialdifference as laid bare between Sartrian Existentialism nd theidentically amedphilosophy fHeidegger.Heidegger,n a letter o JeanBeaufret, nsistedupon the funda-mental difference etween a speculativephilosophy Heidegger'sown), for which man's existence consistschieflyn receiving hegift f Being,whichhe has not created, nd a purely theistic nd100

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JEAN HYPPOLITEhumanistic hilosophy n whichman, as liberty, ivesuntohimselfhis mode of being in the worldand rejects any fossilizedformofexistence.At that time, Sartre dominatedthe whole philosophicalgeneration, ne was eitherfor him or against him. He appearednotonly as the philosopher,n the traditionalmeaning f theword,but also as themoralist nd the writer ho had succeeded n embody-ing his thought n creativeworks: a play like No Exit, a story ikeThe Room are, in my opinion,especially noteworthy. inally, inLucifer nd the Lord, Sartre'sphilosophy s a whole passes on thestage.THIRD PERIOD: This was Existentialism's eriod of decadence. Itbegan a few years ago and is now, I believe, nearing ts end. Afashion s over: philosophytudents o longer eeltheneedto definethemselves elatively o Sartre.To be sure, his influences stilltobe felt, ut less conspicuously. here are stillChristian nd atheisticExistentialists nd Marxists, ll more or less closely connectedtoHegelian philosophy, ut enthusiasmhas waned and some mindsare pursuing therpaths.A feware returningo a philosophyf lifeand hark back to Bergson; otherswonder bout the extent o whichthe positive ciences mustbe giventheirdue place in contemporaryphilosophy; thers till, hiefly mong medical men, are discoveringthedepthsof psychoanalysis s a knowledge f man. It is not justby chance that the title "Psychoanalysis and Philosophy" waschosen ndependentlyy three ecturers:Merleau-Ponty, r. JulietteBoutonnier nd myself.A psychoanalyst ho is also a doctor,Dr.Lacan, has organized an eagerly attended seminar on that veryquestion at the Sainte-Annehospital.FOURTH PERIOD: It seems to me that we are now entering ponthe fourth eriod. AfterExistentialism's igh tide and ebb comessoberreflection,he balance sheetof the whole movement s estab-lished. Time lends perspective, nd the scope and importance fFrenchExistentialismre now appraisedmore sanely. n thisrespect,therecentbook by Merleau-Ponty, es Aventures e la dialectique(1955), assumes great mportance. t indicates breakwithSartre(Sartre and ultra-Bolshevism). he reflectionf manyof us seemsnow to be directed o the problemof history nd of the relationsbetween history nd philosophy.Merleau-Ponty ccuses Sartre ofneglecting istory tself nd all that, n history, s objective, s heblamesMarxism, n theotherhand,forattributingmportance nlyto objective history,while showingno genuineconcern for man'sfreedom. t seems thatthe problem becomes that of the relationsbetween objective history nd the meaning which our freedombestows upon that history. everal works by RaymondAron andHenri Marrouhave latelyposed this questionof objectivehistory sopposed to the subjectivity f historical nterpretations.uch an

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Yale French Studiesorientationf our present-dayebates round he significancefhistorys readilyomprehensible.

Finally, hosewho drawup the balance sheet f Existentialismreproacht withnot taking cience nd even biological roblemssufficientlynto ccount. heyoung hilosopherseem o be turningtoHusserl's hilosophy,xpectingromt both igor nd a sense ftheconcrete. am no prophet nd I cannot laim o foreseewhatthephilosophyust now n the process f beingbornwillhavetooffer.t is no longer heExistentialismf a fewyears go, but tgivesfull redit o thatverymportantntellectual ovement.t ismoving oward newreflectionn historynd its significancesmuch s toward herelationshipetween uman onsciousnessndlife, nd t is determinedot o overlook he mportancefsciencesandtechniques.The above sketch s extremelychematic,nd is of course nlyan approximation.do notmeanto imply hatExistentialismasonly a passingfashion. t was that,but as a philosophicalndliterary ovementt is also muchmore, nd its true ignificancemay perhaps e revealed s Existentialisms mergedntoa neworderof reflection.hatreflection,s I seem to sense t amongyoung hilosophers,ay edefinedy ts wo oles: theproblematicsofhistorynd of the meaningsubjective-objective)f a historywhichs,by tsvery ssence, lways nfinished;ndtheproblematicsofa transcendentalogic not n theKantian ense, ut nHusserl's)which nites herigorfan analysisftheconditionsfall possibleexistence nd the concreteavorof a Phenomenology.his logicbecomeshe dea ofPhilosophy.ut fromhese woproblematicsthird s born, hat of their elation,.e. of the relation etweenHistory,verunfinished,nd transcendentalhilosophyhichurnsbackto theessential. ranscendentalogic nd History-BeingndTime!

REFERENCESRaymondAron. L'Opiumdes intellectuels.almannLvy, 1953.Henri-IreneeMarrou.De la connaissance istorique. ditionsdu Seuil, 1955.Maurice Merleau-Ponty.es Aventures e la dialectique.Gallimard, 955.JeanWahl. Traitede metaphysique.ayot,1953.

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