Rémi Brague

Rémi Brague (born 8 September 1947) is a French historian of philosophy, specializing in the Arabic, Jewish, and Christian thought of the Middle Ages. He is professor emeritus of Arabic and religious philosophy at the Sorbonne, and Romano Guardini chair of philosophy (emeritus) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Biography

Educated primarily at the Sorbonne in Paris, Brague began his career as a student of Greek philosophy, developing a phenomenological account of Aristotle's conception of the world. From there, he was led to study Hebrew, in order to read the Old Testament. Finally, he turned to a study of Arabic in order "to read the Jewish philosopher Maimonides' The Guide for the Perplexed in its original language." Accordingly, most of his work has taken place at the intersection of the three Abrahamic religions, as they developed out of the ancient world, formed themselves in dialogue with one another, and eventually gave rise to modernity. He is the author of numerous books on classical and medieval intellectual history, religion, national identity, literature and law, and is perhaps best known in the English-speaking world for his books Eccentric Culture: A Theory of Western Civilization and Law of God: The Philosophical History of an Idea.

Brague

The Brague is a river in the département of Alpes-Maritimes and the région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in France. The Brague takes its source near Châteauneuf-Grasse and ends in the Mediterranean Sea near Antibes.

Between Valbonne and Biot, a 9-kilometre (6 mi) long path follows the river. Part of the Brague Valley is covered by a park called the "Parc Départemental de la Brague".

The Brague is 21 kilometres (13 mi) long.

References

Coordinates: 43°36′38″N 07°07′00″E / 43.61056°N 7.11667°E / 43.61056; 7.11667

Saint Remigius

Saint Remigius, Remy or Remi, (French: Saint Rémi or Saint Rémy; Italian: Remigio; Spanish: Remigio; Occitan: Romieg; Polish: Remigiusz; Breton: Remig and Lithuanian: Remigijus), was Bishop of Reims and Apostle of the Franks, (c. 437 – January 13, 533 AD). On 25 December 496 he baptised Clovis I, King of the Franks. This baptism, leading to the conversion of the entire Frankish people to Chalcedonian Christianity, was a momentous success for the Church and a seminal event in European history.

Life

Remigius was born, traditionally, at Cerny-en-Laonnois, near Laon, Picardy, into the highest levels of Gallo-Roman society. He is said to have been son of Emilius, count of Laon (who is not otherwise attested) and of Celina, daughter of the Bishop of Soissons, which Clovis had conquered in 486. He studied at Reims and soon became so noted for his learning and sanctity, and his high status, that he was elected Bishop of Reims in his 22nd year, though still a layman.

The story of the return of the sacred vessels (most notably the Vase of Soissons), which had been stolen from the church of Soissons, testifies to the friendly relations existing between him and Clovis, King of the Franks, whom he converted to Christianity with the assistance of Saint Vedast (Vedastus, Vaast, Waast) and Saint Clotilde, the Burgundian princess who was wife to Clovis. Even before he embraced Christianity, Clovis had showered benefits upon Remigius and the Christians of Reims, and after his victory over the Alamanni in the battle of Tolbiac (probably 496), he requested Remigius to baptize him at Reims (December 25, 496) in the presence of a large company of Franks and Alamanni; according to Saint Gregory of Tours, 3,000 Franks were baptized with Clovis.

Luc Ferry

Luc Ferry (French: [fɛʁi]; born January 1, 1951) is a French philosopher and a notable proponent of secular humanism. He is a former member of the Saint-Simon Foundation think-tank.

He received an Agrégation de philosophie (1975), a Doctorat d’Etat en science politique (1981), and an Agrégation de science politique (1982). As a Professor of political science and political philosophy, Luc Ferry taught at the Institut d'études politiques de Lyon (1982–1988) — during which time he also taught and directed graduate research at the Pantheon-Sorbonne University —, at Caen University (1989–96). He was a professor at Paris Diderot University (since 1996) but did not teach there.

From 2002 and until 2004 he served as the Minister of Education on the cabinet led by the conservative Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. During his tenure, he was the minister in charge of the implementation of the French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools. He received the award of Docteur honoris causa from the Université de Sherbrooke (Canada). He is the 2013 Telesio Galilei Academy of science Laureate for Philosophy.

Alain Finkielkraut

Alain Finkielkraut (born 30 June 1949) is a French essayist and public intellectual. He has written books and essays on a wide range of topics, many on the ideas of tradition and identitary violence, including Jewish identity and antisemitism, French colonialism, the mission of the French education system in immigrant assimilation, and the Yugoslav Wars.

He joined the Department of French Literature in the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor in 1976 at the age of 27, and from 1989 to 2014, he was professor of History of Ideas in the École Polytechnique department of humanities and social sciences.

He was elected member of the Académie française (Seat 21) on 10 April 2014. He often appears in France on talk shows.

As a thinker, Finkielkraut defines himself as being "at the same time classical and romantic". In a similar vein to some American scholarly views such as the criticism of the School of Resentment by Harold Bloom, and of the The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom, Finkielkraut deplores what he sees as the deterioration of Western tradition through multiculturalism and relativism.