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Title: La crise des démocraties, raison de la philosophie personnaliste
Subtitle: Une lecture de Qu'est-ce que le personnalisme? d'Emmanuel Mounier
Author(s): COLIN, Yoann
Journal: Etudes phénoménologiques - Phenomenological Studies
Volume: 8    Date: 2024   
Pages: 41-62
DOI: 10.2143/EPH.8.0.3292511

Abstract :
Drawing in particular on Emmanuel Mounier’s «What is personalism», published shortly after the end of the Second World War, this paper aims at highlighting how the crisis of the 1930s may lead to a reflection on the impasses of liberal democracy and on the functioning of individualistic Western societies. Mounier traces the dysfunctions of these societies back to the dawn of modernity. In his personalist philosophy he presents an alternative to the selfish individual by conceiving the person as more open to otherness. By promoting a new form of sociability and collective life, he offers a real alternative to the opposition between capitalism and communism – an opposition that has been presented as unsurpassable – and a solution to the crisis that the West is facing. Eventually, this paper seeks to uncover the reasons why personalism can be thought of as a philosophy for times of crisis.

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