Philosophical Expatriats - the Case of Alexander Kojeve : From Moscow to Paris

Abstract

Alexander Kojeve is widely considered to be one of the most influential philosophers of the Twentieth century. His Seminar in Paris where he delineated his interpretation of Hegel’s, Phenomenology of Spirit was attended by such thinkers who later on became prominent in French intellectual and political life. Born in Russia in 1902, he was forced to leave his country upon the rise of the Bolcheviks to power in Russia. In Germany he studied under Karl Jaspers and then in France became a high-paid bureaucrat helping the French government to set up its Economic international policy. In this paper I probe the extent of which Kojeve’s Russian intellectual background and its condition as an immigrant was pivotal in determining his later philosophical position.

Presenters

Angel Jaramillo Torres
Professor, International Relations, Comexi, México, Mexico