Moncef Chelli (Arabic: منصف شيلي), (11 February 1936 in

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

– 18 March 1994 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 Franco-Tunisian philosopher and writer.

Biography

He arrived in France after completing secondary school at Sadiki College in Tunis to begin higher studies in philosophy at the Sorbonne, as well as

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

. He was awarded the rank of docteur d'État of letters and humanities in 1979. He was fluent in six languages ( French, English,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

) and equally competent at mathematics, geometry and studying the

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...

which strongly inspired his philosophical writings. He produced, notably, a translation of

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

' ''

Rules for the Direction of the Mind ''Regulae ad directionem ingenii'', or ''Rules for the Direction of the Mind'' is an unfinished treatise regarding the proper method for scientific and philosophical thinking by René Descartes. Descartes started writing the work in 1628, and it ...

'' into Arabic for

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. In 1983 he presided over a seminar of the world congress for philosophy in

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 ...

, Quebec, Canada. He was the author of numerous books. His chief and final work, ''Le Mythe de cristal'', published posthumously, dealt with the theory of cultural relativity, on which he had worked all his life, and attempted to explain the reasons for the contemporary supremacy of the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

and the reasons for its confrontation with the

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

Books

* ''La Parole arabe'' (The Arabic Language), éd. Sindbad, Paris, 1980 * ''L'Évolution des idées dans la culture occidentale'' (The Evolution of Ideas in Western Culture), éd. Ellipses Marketing, Paris, 1987 * ''Trois visions du temps'' (Three Visions of the Times), with Éliane Amado Lévy-Valensi & Claude-Roland Souchet.

Éditions du Centurion The Éditions du Centurion are a French publishing house established in Paris, 3, rue Bayard, in 1945 by the Assumptionists fathers of the "Maison de la Bonne Presse" which became Bayard Presse Bayard Presse is a French press and publishing comp ...

, Paris, 1993 * ''Le Mythe de cristal ou le secret de la puissance de l'Occident'' (The Myth of the Crystal or the Secret of the Power of the West), éd. Les Empêcheurs de penser en rond, Paris, 1997

References

Tunisian philosophers Tunisian writers Tunisian writers in French Alumni of Sadiki College 1936 births 1994 deaths Tunisian male writers 20th-century Tunisian writers 20th-century philosophers University of Paris alumni {{Africa-philosopher-stub