Mikel Dufrenne (9 February 1910, in Clermont,

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

– 10 June 1995, in

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 ...

) was a French philosopher and aesthetician. He is known as an author of

existentialism Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and valu ...

and is particularly noted for the work ''The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience'' (1953, in French as ''Phénoménologie de l'expérience esthétique''). He encountered the work of

Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (; ; 23 February 1883 – 26 February 1969) was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry, and philosophy. His 1913 work ''General Psychopathology'' influenced many ...

while being a prisoner of war in a camp with

Paul Ricœur Jean Paul Gustave Ricœur (; ; 27 February 1913 – 20 May 2005) was a French philosopher best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutics. As such, his thought is within the same tradition as other major hermeneut ...

. Dufrenne and Ricœur later collaborated on a book on Jaspers.International Lexicon of Aesthetics website, ''Mikel Dufrenne''
/ref> He founded the Department of Philosophy at the University of Paris. His students included Daniel Charles and Louis Marin. He was also president of the Société Française d’Esthétique for over 20 years.

Works

* ''Karl Jaspers et la philosophie de l'existence'', 1947 * ''Phénoménologie de l'expérience esthétique'', 1953; Eng. tr., ''The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience'' (1973) * ''La personnalité de base'', 1953 * ''La Notion d'a priori'', 1959; Engl. tr., ''The Notion of the A Priori'' (1966) * ''Jalons'', 1966 * ''La philosophie du néopositivisme'', 1967 * ''Pour l'homme'', 1968 * (with Paul Ricœur) ''Karl Jaspers et la philosophie de l'existence'' (1974) * ''Esthétique et philosophie'' (two volumes, 1976)GoodReads website, ''Mikel Dufrenne''
/ref>

References

* Robert Magliola, "Part II, Chapter 3: Mikel Dufrenne," ''Phenomenology and Literature'' (Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press, 1977; 1978), pp. 142–173 (this influential work explained for the English-language academic world the role of Dufrenne in the formulation of "phenomenological literary theory and criticism"; it also supplied, for hermeneutical philosophy, a chapter-by-chapter description and critique of Dufrenne's monumental ''Phénoménologie de l'expérience esthétique''). See * Jean-Baptiste Dussert and Adnen Jdey (ed.), ''Mikel Dufrenne et l'esthétique: entre phénoménologie et philosophie de la Nature'', Rennes (France), Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2016 (this book is the first collection of essays devoted to all the aspects of Dufrennes's aesthetic). 1910 births People from Oise 20th-century French writers 1995 deaths Academic staff of the University of Poitiers World War II prisoners of war held by Germany 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French philosophers {{france-philosopher-stub

Works

References

Further reading