Lucien Sève (; 9 December 1926 – 23 March 2020) was a French philosopher, communist and political activist. He was an active member of 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 ...

from 1950 to 2010. His 1969 work ''Marxisme et théorie de la personnalité'' (''Marxism and theory of personality'') has been translated into 25 different languages. Sève died on 23 March 2020 of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Family, career and death

Sève was born in 1926 in

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...

. His parents ran a publishing house for children's books. He studied at the Lycée de Chambéry, and the

Lycée du Parc The Lycée du Parc is a public secondary school located in the sixth ''arrondissement'' of Lyon, France. Its name comes from the Parc de la Tête d'Or, one of Europe's largest urban parks, which is situated nearby. It provides a ''lycée''-level ...

. Sève entered the

École normale supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

in 1945, where he earned ''

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 ...

'' of philosophy in 1949. He became a philosophy teacher at a ''

lycée In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 14. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for students between ...

'' in

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 he was later removed from the post due to his Marxist beliefs. Sève performed military service in Algeria, from 1952 to 1953. After his military service, he worked at the in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. In 1952, Sève married Françoise Guille in

Gap, Hautes-Alpes Gap (, ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Hautes-Alpes, in the Regions of France, region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southeastern France. In 2019, the Communes of France, commune had a popul ...

, and they had two children. Guille died in 2011. Sève died on 23 March 2020 of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

at the age of 93.

Political life

Sève was an avid Politzerian. He supported the views of fellow French Marxist philosophers

Louis Althusser Louis Pierre Althusser (, ; ; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher who studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. Althusser was a long-time member an ...

and

Roger Garaudy Roger Garaudy (; 17 July 1913 – 13 June 2012) was a French philosopher, French resistance fighter and a communist author. He converted to Islam in 1982. In 1998, he was convicted for several years and fined for Holocaust denial under French law ...

, arguing that the PCF should follow some

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

aspects of the

Marxist philosophy Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are works in philosophy that are strongly influenced by Karl Marx's Historical materialism, materialist approach to theory, or works written by Marxists. Marxist philosophy may be broadly divided into Wester ...

. However, Sève also focused on a scientific, rather than a purely humanist or non-humanist, basis for Marxism, something that was different from most Western European Marxist ideas of the time. Most Western Communist parties, including the

, were moving towards

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

. He also focused upon the relationship between Marxism and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

. He supported a Communist regime where the Communist Party was the dominant force, and as such his views have been compared to

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's USSR. Nevertheless, after the death of Stalin, Sève supported the

De-Stalinization De-Stalinization () comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and Khrushchev Thaw, the thaw brought about by ascension of Nik ...

of the USSR. In the 1980s, Sève supported the creation of the medical ethics committee

Comité consultatif national d'éthique The ''Comité Consultatif National d'Ethique'' () is a French governmental advisory council on bioethics issues. It was created by a presidential decree of François Mitterrand in 1983. See also * National Commission for the Protection of Human S ...

(CCNE). He was a member of the CCNE committee from 1983 to 2000. He was a supporter of

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

testing, but only from excess IVF embryos. He saw embryos as "the potential of a human being", so considered using them solely for testing as unethical. Sève also had very strong opinions on how a Marxist biography should be written. His works included very specific, albeit almost unachievable, criteria that he believed should be adhered to for all Marxist biographies. He was a founding member of the project, which aimed to translate and republish all of Marx's and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, Sève gave an interview in which he said that Communism is relevant today, and that

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

was centuries ahead of his time. In 1950, Sève joined the French Communist Party (PCF). He was elected as a member of the Central Committee in 1961, and remained a member of it until 1994. From 1970 to 1982, he ran the PCF publishing house. He was appointed to this role because members of the PCF considered him one of the best intellectuals in the party. In 1970, he attended a panel discussion organised by

Catherine Clément Catherine Clément (; born 10 February 1939) is a French philosopher, novelist, feminist, and literary critic, born in Boulogne-Billancourt. She received a degree in philosophy from the École Normale Supérieure, and studied under its faculty Cla ...

, which also included

Serge Leclaire Serge Leclaire (; born Serge Liebschutz; 6 July 1924 – 8 August 1994) was a French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Initially analyzed by Jacques Lacan, he 'became the first French " Lacanian"'. Subsequently, he developed into 'one of the most re ...

and André Green. During the 1980s, Sève began to distance himself from the PCF after disagreements with the political leaders. In 1984, he proposed a refounding of the PCF, arguing that the party had lost its way. Sève resigned from the party in 2010, citing a lack of public support for the party at the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vot ...

and

2010 French regional elections 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to ...

, as well as a distaste for the youth wing of the party.

Works

In 1969, he authored the work ''Marxisme et théorie de la personnalité'' (''Marxism and theory of personality''). The work has been translated into 25 different languages. His 1978 work ''Man in Marxist theory and the psychology of personality'' focused on how personality was a "product of social relations". This strongly opposed

Hans Eysenck Hans Jürgen Eysenck ( ; 4 March 1916 – 4 September 1997) was a German-born British psychologist. He is best remembered for his work on intelligence and personality psychology, personality, although he worked on other issues in psychology. At t ...

's view that personality was a mixture of genetics and learned behaviours. In 1990, he authored ''Communisme : quel second souffle?'' (''Communism: what a second wind?''), and from 2004 to 2019, he worked on four volumes of ''Penser avec Marx aujourd’hui'' (''Thinking with Marx today''.) The works aimed to highlight Sève's perceived problems with various interpretations of Marxism, including Stalinism, ideological mistreatment by

Luc Ferry Luc Ferry (; born 3 January 1951) is a French public intellectual and voluminous author, who is a proponent of secular humanism. He was Minister of National Education for three years during the presidency of Jacques Chirac. Biography He rece ...

, and theories from

and

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

that Sève believed incompatible with Marxism. The first of the four volumes was entitled ''Marx et nous'' (''Marx and us''), and the second volume, published in 2008, was entitled ''L'homme?'' (''The Person''). In 2008, he was awarded a prize by the Union rationaliste.

List

* Sève, L. (1954), ''La Science'' (''The science''), Les Éditions scolaires * Sève, L. (1969), ''Marxisme et théorie de la personalité'' (''Marxism and theory of personality''), Éditions sociales. * Sève, L. (1974), ''Textes sur la méthode de la science économique'' (''Texts on the method of economics''), Éditions sociales * Sève, L. (1975), ''Marxism and the theory of human personality'',

Lawrence & Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned left-wing ...

* Sève, L., & Clément, C. (1977). ''Pour une critique marxiste de la théorie psychanalytique'' (''For a Marxist critique of psychoanalytic theory''), Éditions sociales * Sève, L. (1978), ''Man in Marxist theory and the psychology of personality'', Hassocks: Harvester Press * Sève, L. (1980), ''Une introduction à la philosophie marxiste: Suivie d’un vocabulaire philosophique'' (''An introduction to Marxist philosophy: Followed by a philosophical vocabulary''), Éditions sociales * Sève, L. (1984), ''Structuralisme et dialectique'' (''Structuralism and dialectics''), Messidor/Editions sociales * Sève, L. (1994), ''Pour une critique de la raison bioéthique'' (''For a critique of bioethical reason''),

Odile Jacob Odile Jacob is a French publisher who founded ''Les Éditions Odile Jacob'' in the middle of the 1980s. She is also a trained scientist, studying the workings of the brain, the mind and thought. She is a member of Le Siècle.Frédéric Saliba, 'L ...

* Sève, L. (1998), ''Sciences et dialectiques de la nature'' (''Natural sciences and dialectics''), La Dispute * Sève, L. (1999), ''Commencer par les fins: La nouvelle question communiste'' (''Start with the Ends: The New Communist Question''), La Dispute * Sève, L. (2001), ''Sciences de l’homme et de la société: La responsabilité des scientifiques'' (''Human and social sciences: The responsibility of scientists''), L’Harmattan * Sève, L. (2004), ''Marx et nous'' (''Marx and us''), La Dispute * Sève, L. (2005), ''Émergence, complexité et dialectique: Sur les systèmes dynamiques non linéaires'' (''Emergence, complexity and dialectics: On nonlinear dynamical systems''), Odile Jacob * Sève, L. (2006), ''Qu’est-ce que la personne humaine?'' (''What is the human person?''), La Dispute * Sève, L. (2008), ''L’homme?'' (''The Person''), La Dispute * Sève, L. (2008), Dialectics of emergence. In: Ollman, B. & Smith, T. (Eds.) (2008), ''Dialectics for the new century'',

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230583818_6 Source:

References

External links

Lucien Sève Archive
at marxists.org
BNF
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seve, Lucien 1926 births 2020 deaths Writers from Chambéry 20th-century French philosophers 21st-century French philosophers Marxist theorists French Communist Party members École Normale Supérieure alumni Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in France French military personnel of the Algerian War