Emmanuel Mounier (; ; 1 April 1905 – 22 March 1950) was a French philosopher,
Catholic theologian
Catholic theology is the understanding of Catholic doctrine or teachings, and results from the studies of theologians. It is based on canonical scripture, and sacred tradition, as interpreted authoritatively by the magisterium of the Catholi ...
, teacher and essayist.
Biography
Mounier was the guiding spirit in the French
personalist
Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...
movement, and founder and director of ''
Esprit'', the magazine which was the organ of the movement. He was a brilliant scholar at the
Sorbonne. In 1929, when he was only twenty-four, he came under the influence of the French writer
Charles Péguy, to whom he ascribed the inspiration of the personalist movement. Mounier's personalism became a main influence of the
non-conformists of the 1930s.
Peter Maurin used to say wherever he went, "There is a man in France called Emmanuel Mounier. He wrote a book called ''The Personalist Manifesto''. You should read that book."
He taught at the
Lycée du Parc at
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
and at the Lycee Français Jean Monnet at
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
.
Although Mounier was critical of the
Moscow Trials of the 1930s, he has been criticized by the historian
Tony Judt, among others, for his failure to condemn the excesses of
Stalinism
Stalinism (, ) is the Totalitarianism, totalitarian means of governing and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), 1927 to 1953 by dictator Jose ...
in the
postwar period
A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, w ...
.
In 1939, Mounier commented in a restrained manner on the newly elected
Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...
remaining silent on the
Italian invasion of Albania
The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign which was launched by Fascist Italy, Italy against Albanian Kingdom (1928–1939), Albania in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...
. Thus, Mounier has contributed to the debate about
Pope Pius XII's controversial stance on the Holocaust.
Works
First editions
* ''La pensée de Charles Péguy'', Plon, coll. "Roseau d'Or", 1931.
* ''Révolution personnaliste et communautaire'', Paris, Éd. Montaigne, 1934.
* ''De la propriété capitaliste à la propriété humaine'', Desclée de Brouwer, coll. "Questions disputées", 1936.
* ''Manifeste au service du personnalisme'', Éd. Montaigne, 1936.
* ''Pacifistes ou Bellicistes'', Paris, Éditions du Cerf, 1939.
* ''L'affrontement chrétien'', Neuchâtel, Éditions de la Baconnière, 1944.
* ''Montalembert (Morceaux choisis)'', Fribourg, L.U.F., coll. "Le Cri de la France", 1945 .
* ''Liberté sous conditions'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1946.
* ''Traité du caractère'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1946.
* ''Introduction aux existentialismes'', Paris, Denoël, 1946.
* ''Qu'est-ce que le personnalisme ?'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1947.
* ''L'éveil de l'Afrique noire'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1948.
* ''La Petite Peur du XXe siècle'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1948.
* ''Feu la Chrétienté'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1950.
* ''Les certitudes difficiles'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1951.
* ''Mounier et sa génération. Lettres, carnets et inédits'', Paris, Éditions du Seuil, 1956.
* ''Personalism'', University of Notre Dame, 1986.
Complete works (1961-1962)
* ''Œuvres'', 4 volumes, Paris, éd. du Seuil, 1961-1962 (out of print / épuisé) :
** I. 1931–1939 (livres et choix d’articles / books and selected articles)
** II. ''Traité du caractère''
** III. 1944-1950 (livres / books)
** IV. ''Recueils posthumes et correspondances (Posthumous collections and correspondence )''.
[ With complete bibliography of Mounier's books and articles.]
Modern reprints available
* ''L'Engagement de la foi'', textes choisis et présentés par Paulette Mounier, introduction de Guy Coq, Paris, Éditions Parole et silence, 2005, (1st édition: Paris, Le Seuil, 1968).
* ''Le Personnalisme'', Paris, PUF, Collection "Que sais-je ?" n°395, 2001 (1st édition 1950).
* ''Refaire la Renaissance'', préface de Guy Coq, Paris, Le Seuil, Collection Points-Essais, 2000.
* ''Écrits sur le personnalisme'', préface de
Paul Ricœur, Le Seuil, Collection Points-Essais, 2000.
* ''Mounier et sa génération. Lettres, carnets et inédits'', Paris, Éditeur Parole et Silence, 2000 (1st edition 1956 ).
* ''La Petite Peur du 20e siècle'', préface de
Paul Ricœur, éditions R&N, 2020.
See also
*
Ligue de la jeune République
References
External links
*
Emmanuel Mounier, Personalism, and the Catholic Worker movement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mounier, Emmanuel
20th-century French Catholic theologians
University of Paris alumni
Catholic philosophers
1905 births
1950 deaths
Writers from Grenoble
Christian humanists
French male writers
French male essayists
20th-century French essayists
20th-century French journalists
20th-century French philosophers
20th-century French male writers
Non-conformists of the 1930s