Alexandre Matheron (1926 – 7 January 2020) was a French philosopher specializing in

Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

and modern politics. His 1969 work ''Individu et communauté chez Spinoza'' is "widely regarded as one of the landmarks of Spinoza scholarship."

Biography

Alexandre was the brother of mathematician Georges Matheron. He obtained a bachelor's degree in politics in 1949 and an

agrégation In France, the () is the most competitive and prestigious examination for civil service in the French public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all stu ...

in philosophy in 1956. The following year, he began teaching at the

University of Algiers The University of Algiers 1 (), commonly called Benyoucef Benkhedda, is a public research university based in Algiers, Algeria. Founded in 1909 from the amalgamation of different French colonial educational institutions, it has become the oldes ...

. He also left the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

, where he was very active. While in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, Matheron decided to write his doctoral thesis on Spinoza. In 1963, he returned to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and enrolled at the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...

to complete his doctoral degree under the direction of Martial Gueroult. His degree was completed in 1968. His thesis, titled ''Individu et communauté chez Spinoza'' was officially published in 1969. Matheron published another work in 1971, titled ''Le Christ et le salut des Ignorants chez Spinoza''. He was a founder in 1977 of the Association des Amis de Spinoza. He worked as assistant professor at

Paris Nanterre University Paris Nanterre University (), formerly University of Paris West, Paris-X and commonly referred to as Nanterre, is a public research university based in Nanterre, Hauts-de-Seine, France, in the Paris metropolitan area. It is one of the most pres ...

, and then served as professor at

Lumière University Lyon 2 Lumière University Lyon 2 () is one of the three universities that comprise the current University of Lyon system, having splintered from an older university of the same name, and is primarily based on two campuses in Lyon itself. It has a total ...

. He died on 7 January 2020 after a period of ill health. His work was first published in English in 2020 as a collection of essays titled ''Politics, Ontology and Ethics in Spinoza: Essays by Alexandre Matheron''.

Publications

In French: *''Individu et communauté chez Spinoza'' (Paris:

Les Éditions de Minuit Les Éditions de Minuit (, ''Midnight Press'') is a French publishing house. It was founded in 1941, during the French Resistance of World War II, and is still publishing books today. History Les Éditions de Minuit was founded by writer and ...

, 1969) ISBN 2707303917 *''Le Christ et le salut des Ignorants chez Spinoza'' (Paris: Éditions Aubier-Montaigne, 1971) *''Anthropologie et politique au XVIIe siècle. Études sur Spinoza'' (Paris: Vrin, 1985) *''Études sur Spinoza et les philosophies à l'âge classique'' (Lyon: ENS Lyon, 2011) ISBN 2847882189 In English: * ''Politics, Ontology and Ethics in Spinoza: Essays by Alexandre Matheron'', translated by Filippo Del Lucchese, David Maruzzella, and Gil Morejon. (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2020) ISBN 147444010X

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matheron, Alexandre 1926 births 2020 deaths 20th-century French philosophers Neo-Spinozism Academic staff of the University of Algiers Academic staff of Paris Nanterre University Academic staff of the University of Lyon Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure 21st-century Algerian people