Bernard-Henri Lévy

The Art of Philosophy is Only Worthwhile if it is an Art of War.

Philosopher contre Hegel et les néo­hégéliens. Philosopher contre l'inter­prétation pré-Bataille, et pré-Collège de sociologie, de la politique de Nietzsche. Philosopher contre le néo-platonisme et son démon de l'absolu. Philosopher contre Bergson et son avatar, justement, deleuzien. Philosopher contre la volonté de pureté, ou de guérir, dont j'ai démontré ailleurs qu'elle est la vraie matrice de ce qu'on a appelé, trop vite, les totalitarismes et qu'une guerre conceptuelle bien menée permet de mieux nommer. Philosopher pour nuire à ceux qui m'empêchent d'écrire et de philosopher. Philosopher pour empêcher, un peu, les imbéciles et les salauds de pavoiser. Philosopher contre Badiou. Philosopher contre la gidouille Zizek. Philosopher contre le parti du sommeil, des clowns ou des radicalités meurtrières. Pardon, mais c'est la vérité. Chaque fois que j'ai, depuis trente ans, fait un peu de philosophie c'est ainsi que j'ai opéré : dans une conjoncture donnée, compte tenu d'un problème ou d'une situation déterminés, identifier un ennemi et, l'ayant identifié, soit le tenir en respect, soit, parfois, le réduire ou le faire reculer. Guerre de guérilla, encore. Harcèlement. Et à la guerre comme à la guerre.

1970

Along with with his studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, he enteres L’Institut d’études politiques et sociales de Paris (known as Sciences Po), from which he will be temporarily suspended that year for disciplinary reasons.

Under the direction of Michel Serres, he defended his undergraduate thesis titled “Formation et Déplacement des concepts scientifiques selon Georges Canguilhem” [Development and Transfer of Scientific Concepts According to Georges Canguilhem].

Parallel to this, he contributes to the daily newspaper Combat, edited by Philippe Tesson, for which he makes an extensive report on the war in Northern Ireland as well as a number of reports on rural France.

1971

June 1971: awarded eighth place in the philosophy agrégation, the highly competitive national competition for recruiting professors in France.

In September, under the supervision of the economist and historian Charles Betelheim (who introduces him to Louis Althusser), he declares his Master’s thesis topic, “impérialisme and colonialisme interne” [imperialism and internal colonialism].

In November, responding to André Malraux’s call to organize an international brigade in support of Bangladesh, he heads to India, then to Bangladesh itself, where he spends several months: first, as a war correspondent for the daily newspaper Combat, then as a temporary civil attaché in charge of planning for the young government headed by Mujibur Rahnan, the first president of Bangladesh.

This long visit to Bangladesh will supply the material for his first book, Bangladesh, Nationalisme dans la Révolution, published in 1973 in the prestigious series Cahiers Libres published by Les Editions Maspéro, one of the rallying points of the extreme left at the time. This work will be republished in 1985 by Le Livre de Poche, under the title Les Indes Rouges.

1972

Upon returning to France he teaches at the Lycée de Luzarches near Paris, then, for two years at the Université de Strasbourg, where he teaches a course in epistemology, and then at the Ecole Normale Supérieure where he directs a seminar on the theme “Nietzsche’s Politics”. From a first marriage with Isabelle Doutreluigne (deceased in 2004), his daughter Justine-Juliette is born. Breaking with the ideology of the extreme left, he is chosen by François Mitterrand to join the think tank Le Groupe des Experts, including such figures as Michel Rocard, Laurent Fabius, Edith Cresson, Pierre Bérégovoy, Jacques Attali, and Jean-Pierre Chevènement. Asked to study the topic of joint worker–management control, he remains there, until 1976.

In anticipation of the legislative campaign in the Coutances (Manche) region of France, François Mitterrand chooses to place him on the list of candidates; however, for technical reasons, it will be impossible for Bernard-Henri Lévy to pursue the project to its ultimate conclusion in the elections of March 1973.

1973

During this period, having attracted the attention of Françoise Verny, he joins the publishing house Grasset as the editor of three series (Enjeux, Figures, Théoriciens), before becoming the leader in 1976 of the “New Philosophers”, along with Jean-Paul Dollé, Christian Jambet, Guy Lardreau, André Glucksman, Jean-Marie Benoist among others.

1974

He meets Philippe Tesson, edits the “Ideas” section of the daily newspaper Le Quotidien de Paris, contributes to Le Nouvel Observateur, and resigns his university position.