WHITEHEAD’S FRENCH READERS

Abstract

Despite his long career in England and the important lectures taught and works

published in the US, Alfred North Whitehead does not seem to have ever been truly incorporated in anglophone philosophy, at least not until recently. On the other hand, the philosopher found very early on avid readers in France, Jean Wahl being the most pivotal among them. In 1920, Wahl, defying what was then in fashion in the philosophical circles, already touched upon anglophone pluralist thought in his main dissertation, Les Philosophies

pluralistes d’Angleterre et d’Amérique. In this early work, Whitehead’s name appears only once. Later, in the 1930s, however, the English philosopher is the main theme of the long study La philosophie spéculative de Whitehead, published in 1931, and he also figures proeminently in Wahl’s work Vers le concret, 1932. After World War II, Wahl will be one of the most important philosophical figures in France and through his teachings a whole generation will be introduced to Whitehead’s thought. Two well-known students of his were Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Gilles Deleuze. To Merleau-Ponty, Whitehead represents an important addition to his metaphysical speculations, playing a relevant role in his courses in the Collège de France about Nature, taught between 1956 and 1960. In Deleuze’s case, Whitehead is a sort of philosophical role model whose thought appears in his works since the 1960s all the way to the end of the century, although he very rarely cites the English philosopher directly. In this work, firstly I explore Wahl’s reading of Whitehead’s work and his role as an intermediary for its reception in France. Secondly, I show broadly how Whitehead appears in Merleau-Ponty’s and Deleuze’s works.