Contextualization, including a timeline of Cavailles’ post-War commemoration
and a re-evaluation of Ferrieres’ wider work

Camille Akmut

English

Humanities Commons

Introduction to Gabrielle Ferrieres’ JeanCavailles (1950).Camille AkmutJanuary 15, 2020AbstractContextualization, including a timeline of Cavailles’ post-War commemorationand a re-evaluation of Ferrieres’ wider work.1Gabrielle Ferrieres, ethnographer of human loss and painThe first edition of Georges Canguilhem’s Life and death held :“The most moving and best [“sure”] biography of Jean Cavailles is(no doubt) that of his sister.”Due to the own celebrity of the author, Canguilhem’s volume of speechesremains better known – published under various titles/formats, of which inturn “Life and Death” appears to be the most durable1.Gabrielle Ferrieres’s biography however offers insights which cannot be ob-tained otherwise : on the young Cavailles.The chapters ”Childhood” and ”Adolescence” are of particular interest inthat regard, followed by those on his college years (”Ecole normale”) and thetime he spent in Germany before World War II (”Rockefeller stipend”).It is this part that we offer here as translation. — Let us also try to give atimeline of Cavailles’ reception and commemoration/celebration after the War :– 1944 : Cavailles executed, dumped inside an anonymous grave (number 5)– 1945 : remains identified as those of Cavailles2– 1945 : Raymond Aron’s ”Jean Cavailles” article– 1946 : exhumed, transferred and re-buried in the Sorbonne Chapel– 1946 : later sociologist Georges Friedman’s Leibniz and Spinoza study appearswith a dedication to Cavailles and Bloch3– 1947 : On Logic and the Theory of Science– 1950 : Gabrielle Ferrieres writes biography of Cavailles (published with PUF,major French academic publishing house)– 1967 : Cavailles auditorium created at the Strasbourg University, inauguralspeech by Canguilhem (first of three to appear in Life and Death)– 1969, Sept. : Army of Shadows is released, features multiple works by Cavailles– 1969, Oct. : Canguilhem proclaims his admiration of Cavailles on public radioFrance Culture : ”a hero” (second speech)– 1974 : Cavailles Room inaugurated at the Sorbonne (third speech)– 1976 : Canguilhem, ”Life and death”4By then, Cavailles’ legacy was mostly assured, saved : immortalized with thephrase ”philosopher-mathematician, carrier of bombs”, coming from a respectedcontemporary philosopher (The Normal and Pathological, The concept of reflexin the 17th-18th c.), and put onto the big screen by author-filmmaker Melville1In the sum ”Complete works of science”, these speeches, and a fourth one, appear underthe title In Memoriam. (The fourth one : a later France Culture interview from 1989.)2”In December of 1945, the identification of the ”unknown n. 5”, executed by the Germans,seems now certain”. Fourth speech by Canguilhem.3Ibid (Works on science).4See the relevant section in Complete works on science (CNRS). We are unclear as to whythe current edition holds that the Pierre Laleure edition was first published in 1984.2(Breathless, Leon Morin, Le Samourai)5, himself a former Resistance member,as character ”Luc Jardie”. Jardie... Yet another nickname/cypher. Cavailles,the enigma.6Figure 1: the two Jardie, Army of ShadowsThis was succeeded by regular commemorations in each following decade(coinciding with 1944, or February) : the publication of a new edition of ”Lifeand death” in 1984, etc..The latest edition of the biography features a preface by philosopher JacquesBouveresse, the backcover a quote by Canguilhem7:Ordinarily, writing a Moral means a philosopher is preparing to diein their bed [sleep] . Cavailles, on the other hand, at the very samemoment he was doing everything he could, when one is preparingto die while fighting, wrote a Logic. Thus he gave us his ”Moral”,without having to write it.***Ferrieres had chosen the subtitle Philosopher and fighter [”combattant”] in1950. ”Philosopher in times of war” [dans la guerre] newer editions’ cover hold.Gabrielle Ferrieres was herself the author of multiple books, all adorned withtragic titles; turned ethnographer of pain, she became a recipient and analystof modern, anonymous despair. The voice on the other end of distress lines.In this one, Gabrielle, the sister, remembered a dearly loved just lost brother.5Note that, not unlike many great works of art (whose unifying characteristic might beto not seek or create consensus), Army was initially poorly received by some critics. SeeMelville’s own testimony in Melville on Melville (with Nogueira).6It is worth noting that two characters wear the name Jardie in Army of Shadows : one is aflamboyant pilot, man of action; the other a philosopher. Split into respectively Jean-Francoisand Luc. Cavailles was both, we can argue. (Luc calls him ”petit Jean”, opening embrace..)7A combat intellectual too (an intellectual sharpshooter), Canguilhem’s judgements wereoften devastating against types of philosophies (or sciences) he regarded as less rigorous (ifnot felonious, e.g. psychology). Moralism here, existentialism there : cf. the lines on Sartre.3Gabrielle Ferriere bibliography (selected)1950. Jean Cavailles.1973. Sauras-tu me reconnaitre. [Will you be able to recognize me] (non-fiction)1979. Chemin de nulle part. [Roads of/to nowhere] (novel)1996. Voix sans visages. [Faces without voices] (non-fiction)4GABRIELLE FERRIERES — JEAN CAVAILLES. PHILOSOPHER ANDCOMBATANT. (1950)5

Introduction to Gabrielle Ferrieres’ Jean Cavailles (1950)

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Introduction to Gabrielle Ferrieres’ Jean Cavailles (1950)

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