Alexandre Matheron
{{Short description|French philosopher (1926–2020)}}
{{Infobox philosopher
|name=Alexandre Matheron
|birth_date=1926
|death_date=7 January 2020
|birth_place=Paris, France
|region=Western philosophy
|school_tradition=Continental philosophy}}
Alexandre Matheron (1926 – 7 January 2020) was a French philosopher specializing in Baruch Spinoza and modern politics.{{cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2020/01/08/le-philosophe-alexandre-matheron-est-mort_6025204_3382.html|title=Le philosophe Alexandre Matheron est mort|date=8 January 2020|work=Le Monde|language=French}} His 1969 work Individu et communauté chez Spinoza is "widely regarded as one of the landmarks of Spinoza scholarship."{{Cite book|last=Stolze|first=Ted|url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004280984/BP000008.xml|title=Alexandre Matheron on Militant Reason and the Intellectual Love of God|date=2019-03-21|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-28098-4}}
Biography
Alexandre was the brother of mathematician Georges Matheron. He obtained a bachelor's degree in politics in 1949 and an agrégation in philosophy in 1956.{{cite web|url=http://rhe.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/?q=agregsecondaire_laureats&annee_op=%3D&annee%5Bvalue%5D=1956&annee%5Bmin%5D=&annee%5Bmax%5D=&nom=&periode=All&concours=14&items_per_page=10&page=1|title=Les agrégés de l'enseignement secondaire. Répertoire 1809-1960|work=Ressources numériques en histoire de l'éducation|language=French}} The following year, he began teaching at the University of Algiers. He also left the French Communist Party, where he was very active.{{cite interview |last=Matheron|first=Alexandre|subject-link= |interviewer=Laurent Bove|title=A propos de Spinoza|url=https://www.multitudes.net/A-propos-de-Spinoza/|publisher=Multitudes|location=Paris|date=1997|work= |access-date=}} While in Algeria, Matheron decided to write his doctoral thesis on Spinoza. In 1963, he returned to Paris and enrolled at the French National Centre for Scientific Research to complete his doctoral degree under the direction of Martial Gueroult. His degree was completed in 1968.{{Cite web|last=spinozaresearchnetwork|date=2020-01-10|title=Alexandre Matheron|url=https://spinozaresearchnetwork.wordpress.com/2020/01/10/alexandre-matheron/|access-date=2021-12-15|website=spinoza research network|language=en}}
His thesis, titled Individu et communauté chez Spinoza was officially published in 1969. Matheron published another work in 1971, titled Le Christ et le salut des Ignorants chez Spinoza. He was a founder in 1977 of the Association des Amis de Spinoza.
He worked as assistant professor at Paris Nanterre University, and then served as professor at Lumière University Lyon 2.
He died on 7 January 2020 after a period of ill health.
His work was first published in English in 2020 as a collection of essays titled Politics, Ontology and Ethics in Spinoza: Essays by Alexandre Matheron.
Publications
In French:
- Individu et communauté chez Spinoza (Paris: Les Éditions de Minuit, 1969) ISBN 2707303917
- Le Christ et le salut des Ignorants chez Spinoza (Paris: Éditions Aubier-Montaigne, 1971)
- Anthropologie et politique au XVIIe siècle. Études sur Spinoza (Paris: Vrin, 1985)
- Études sur Spinoza et les philosophies à l'âge classique (Lyon: ENS Lyon, 2011) ISBN 2847882189
In English:
- Politics, Ontology and Ethics in Spinoza: Essays by Alexandre Matheron, translated by Filippo Del Lucchese, David Maruzzella, and Gil Morejon. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020) ISBN 147444010X
References
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Category:20th-century French philosophers
Category:Academic staff of the University of Algiers
Category:Academic staff of Paris Nanterre University
Category:Academic staff of the University of Lyon