Philosophical Confessions of Marcel Conche

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* Book: Confessions d'un philosophe (Reponses a Andre Comte-Sponville). Albin Michel, 2002

Review

Michel Bauwens, 2003:

Conche is a retired French philosopher of the Sorbonne, and an expert in classical Greece, to which basic philosophies he adheres. He says we have to become Greek, 'devenir Grec'. His is a humanist philosophy of un-certainty and for him Montaigne is the first 'modern' philosopher, while he sees Descartes, Kant and Hegel as still medieval , because they claim to have found the 'Truth', upon which they then base a whole system.

He was also influenced by Heidegger, who shares a peasant background, and because he asks the real metaphysical questions. He likes Epicurus, but unlike him, he is not looking for happiness but for the truth. He does not believe that in this day and age, a 'society of friends' is possible. He dislikes monotheism, which he considers anti-thetical to philosophy, which is why he appreciates the Greeks. However, he focused on the pre-Socratics because their central concern was with nature, and not, as with Socrates, "Man".