Lucien Goldmann (; 20 July 1913 – 8 October 1970) was a French philosopher and sociologist of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

-Romanian origin. A professor at the EHESS in Paris, he was a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

theorist. His wife was sociologist Annie Goldmann.

Biography

Goldmann was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, but grew up in Botoşani. He studied law at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

and the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

under the Austromarxist jurist Max Adler. Martin Jay, ''Marxism and Totality: The Adventures of a Concept from Lukács to Habermas'', University of California Press, 1984, pp. 305–06. In 1934, he went to the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

to study political economy, literature, and philosophy. He moved to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in November 1942, where he was placed in a refugee camp until 1943. Through

Jean Piaget Jean William Fritz Piaget (, ; ; 9 August 1896 – 16 September 1980) was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called genetic epistemology. ...

's intervention, he was subsequently given a scholarship to the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

, where he completed his PhD in philosophy in 1945 under the supervision of with a thesis entitled ''Mensch, Gemeinschaft und Welt in der Philosophie Immanuel Kants. Studien zur Geschichte der Dialektik'' (''Man, Community and World in the Philosophy of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

: Studies in the History of the Dialectics''). Around 1950, he was living in Paris and writing his first book, ''The Hidden God''. In 1968, Goldmann was a visiting professor at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Philosophy

While many Parisian leftists staunchly upheld Marxism's " scientificity" in the 1950s and 1960s, Lucien Goldmann insisted that Marxism was by then in severe crisis and had to reinvent itself radically if it were to survive. He rejected the traditional Marxist view of the proletariat and contested the structural Marxist movement. In fact, the popularity of such trends on the

Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ...

was one reason why Goldmann's own name and work were eclipsed — this despite the acclaim of thinkers as diverse as

and

Alasdair MacIntyre Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (12 January 1929 – 21 May 2025) was a Scottish-American philosopher who contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's '' After Virtue'' (1981) is one of ...

, who called him "the finest and most intelligent Marxist of the age." He refused to portray his aspirations for humanity's future as an inexorable unfolding of history's laws, but saw them rather as a wager akin to

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

's in the

existence of God The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and theology. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God (with the same or similar arguments also generally being used when talking about the exis ...

. "Risk", Goldmann wrote in his classic study of Pascal's '' Pensées'' and

Jean Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...

's '' Phèdre'', "is possibility of failure, hope of success, and the synthesis of the three in a faith which is a wager are the essential constituent elements of the human condition". He called his work "dialectical" and "humanist". He sought to synthesize the genetic epistemology of Piaget with the Marxism of

György Lukács György Lukács (born Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...

. By 1968, however, according to Lionel Abel, he claimed to have renounced Marxism completely in favour of

libertarianism Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according t ...

and

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

nism. Goldmann founded the theory of genetic structuralism in the 1960s. He was a humanist socialist, a disciple of Lukács, and was best known for his sociology of literature. In later life he became an important critic of

structuralism Structuralism is an intellectual current and methodological approach, primarily in the social sciences, that interprets elements of human culture by way of their relationship to a broader system. It works to uncover the structural patterns t ...

.Lucien Goldmann, a Dictionary of Sociology
Encyclopedia.com; accessed 3 July 2020.

Selected bibliography

In German

*''Mensch, Gemeinschaft und Welt in der Philosophie Immanuel Kants'' (University of Zurich, 1945).

Doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

In French

*''Le dieu caché; étude sur la vision tragique dans les Pensées de Pascal et dans le théâtre de Racine''. Paris: Gallimard, 1955. *''Recherches dialectiques''. Paris: Gallimard, 1959. *''Pour une sociologie du roman''. Paris: Gallimard, 1964. *''Sciences humaines et philosophie. Suivi de structuralisme génétique et création littéraire''. Paris: Gonthier, 1966. *''Structures mentales et création culturelle''. Paris: 10/18, 1970. *''Epistémologie et philosophie''. Paris: Denoël, 1970. *''Lukacs et Heidegger''. Paris: Denoël-Gonthier, 1973.

English translations

*''The Hidden God: a study of tragic vision in the Pensees of Pascal and the tragedies of Racine''. Trans. Philip Thody. London: Routledge, 1964. *''Immanuel Kant''. Translated from the French and German by Robert Black. (London: New Left Books, 1971; Verso, 2011). * *''The Human Sciences and Philosophy''. London: Jonathan Cape, 1973. *''

The Philosophy of Enlightenment ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''. Trans. Henry Maas. London: Routledge, 1973. *''

Towards a Sociology of the Novel ''Towards a Sociology of the Novel'' ({{langx, fr, Pour une sociologie du roman) is a 1963 book by Lucien Goldmann. The book was a seminal work for Goldmann. In it, he lays out his theory of the novel. Explanation of the text Goldmann's thesis ...

''. 1964. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Tavistock Publications, 1975. * "The Epistemology of Sociology". ''

Telos Telos (; ) is a term used by philosopher Aristotle to refer to the final cause of a natural organ or entity, or of human art. ''Telos'' is the root of the modern term teleology, the study of purposiveness or of objects with a view to their aims, ...

'' 18 (Winter 1976-77). New York: Telos Press *''Cultural Creation in Modern Society'' Introduction by William Maryl and Translated by Bart Grahl (New York:

Telos Press ''Telos'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes articles on politics, philosophy, and critical theory, with a particular focus on contemporary political, social, and cultural issues.Gary Genosko with Kristina Marcellus, '' ...

, 1976). *''Essays on Method in the Sociology of Literature'' Translated and edited by William Q. Boelhower (New York:

, 1979). * " Genet's '' The Balcony'': A Realist Play." Trans. Robert Sayre. ''Praxis: A Journal of Radical Perspectives on the Arts'' 4 (1978): 123-131. Trans. of "Une Pièce réaliste: ''Le Balcon'' de Genet" in ''Les Temps Modernes'' 171 (June 1960). *'' Lukacs and Heidegger: Towards a New Philosophy''. Trans. William Q. Boelhower. London: Routledge, 2009.