Laurent-Michel Vacher (26 May 1944 – 8 July 2005) was a French-born,

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

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(''Le Devoir, Hobo-Québec, Chroniques, Spirale'') and teacher (Ahuntsic College,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

). He was a proponent of

scientism Scientism is the belief that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality. While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientis ...

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the Epistemology, epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "the position that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge", often in contrast to ot ...

positivism Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that views language and thought as tools for prediction, problem solving, and action, rather than describing, representing, or mirroring reality. Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics� ...

and

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

, a critic of mainstream schools of today's philosophy and the usual history-centered pedagogy in the field of philosophy. He was one of the few contemporary philosophers who possessed sufficient scientific knowledge to fairly assess the unique role of modern science and

scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

as a knowledge-acquiring mechanism; in his opinion, all recent or less recent scientific knowledge should be considered by philosophers in any of their philosophical approaches as the necessary starting point to avoid the mythical speech and the metaphysical empty talk. He often criticised the attitude of some French philosophers concerning what in Francophone literature is labelled somewhat pejoratively as Anglo-Saxon philosophy "Actuality in American philosophy", "The passion of real". (perceived as too ''pragmatist'', ''empiricist'' and ''materialist''), considering it as a damaging "aristocratic" remnant of continental philosophy. He was a

1990 Governor General's Awards The 1990 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were prizes awarded to authors in 1990. Each winner of the prize received $10000 and a specially bound edition of their book. The winners were selected by a panel of judges administered by the ...

winner (non-fiction) for his ''L'Empire du moderne''. From the political point of view he was a left-leaning intellectual, considered to be an anti-elitist; concerning the Canadian and Quebec's political issues, he was an anti-nationalist and against the sovereignty of provinces in the (Canadian) federation.

Writings

*''La passion du réel - La philosophie devant les sciences'' (Liber, 2006) *''Histoire d'idées'' (Liber, 1994) *''La science par ceux qui la font'' (Liber, 1998) *''Le crépuscule d'une idole - Nietzsche et la pensée fasciste'' (Liber, 2003) *''L'empire du moderne - Actualité de la philosophie américaine'' (Herbes rouges, 1990) *''Débats philosophiques, Entretiens avec Mario Bunge'' (Liber, 1993) *''Pour un matérialisme vulgaire'' (Herbes rouges, 1984) *''Dialogues en ruine'' (Liber, 1996) *''Une triste histoire'' (Liber, 2001), *''Une petite fin du monde'' (Liber, 2005) *''Pratiques de la pensée - Philosophie et enseignement de la philosophie au cégep'' (Liber, 2002) *''Cinq intellectuels sur la place publique, Découvrons la philosophie'' (with François Hertel)

References

1944 births 2005 deaths 20th-century Canadian philosophers 20th-century Canadian journalists 20th-century Canadian non-fiction writers 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian non-fiction writers in French {{Canada-writer-stub