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Document Details : Title: Le système de la bêtise dans Bouvard et Pécuchet Author(s): CHERNIAVSKY, Axel Journal: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie Volume: 84 Issue: 4 Date: 2022 Pages: 599-632 DOI: 10.2143/TVF.84.4.3291530 Abstract : We know it, he told us: Flaubert was obsessed with stupidity. But how would he define it? In order to answer this question, we first enumerate the expressions of stupidity present in the novel which seems devoted to it: Bouvard et Pécuchet. Stupidity will seem too diverse to fit a definition. However, we take into account two attempts to provide one that seems particularly comprehensive. The first is that of Gilles-Gaston Granger, who reduces all stupidity to a lack of judgment; the second is that of Sartre who, after distinguishing a substantial stupidity from a negative stupidity, regroups them in what he calls a 'reciprocal envelopment'. After pointing out the limitations of these two attempts, we propose to replace this semantic approach which asks for a definition with a pragmatic analysis of the functioning of stupidity. |
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