Jean Ladrière: philosophical giant

A philosophical giant: that is what comes to mind when contemplating Prof. Jean Ladrière, who died ten years ago and whose memory UCL – and more specifically his Higher Institute of Philosophy – will honour with a major international colloquium on 23-24 November.

Jean Ladrière was a UCL professor and the president of the Higher Institute of Philosophy. He supervised over 100 PhD theses, promoted his university’s brand of philosophy throughout the world and educated philosophers on whom he left a profound impact and gave the gift of freedom to invent their own way of thinking. In addition, he was the private tutor of the future King Philippe of Belgium, which is why Rector Vincent Blondel requested the high patronage of the king for this colloquium.

A philosopher, certainly, but also a logician (his 1957 teacher certification thesis, Les limitations internes des formalismes (‘The Internal Limitations of Formalisms’), revolutionised proof theory in mathematics), a thinker whose rationality was as demanding as it was seamless with his teleology of hope and openness to existence and all life through language. Jean Ladrière remains a thinker of exceptional stature whose work continues to stimulate a variety of interpretations and debates.

At the invitation of Prof. Jean Leclercq, director of the Alpha Technology Platform, which holds – along with the archives of the great Belgian writer Henry Bauchau – the Jean Ladrière Archives, international specialists will meet to discuss Herméneutique de l'existence et praxis de la vie sociopolitique’ (‘Existential hermeneutics and the praxis of socio-economic life’) in Louvain-la-Neuve on 23-24 November. Contributors will include Profs Bruno Leclercq of the University of Liège, Lambros Couloubaritsis of ULB, Dominique Lambert of the University of Namur, Marie Sassine of the University of Ottawa, Jean Greisch and Hubert Faes of the Catholic University of Paris, and of course UCL’s Philippe Van Parijs, one of Jean Ladrière’s close friends.

Researchers present will include FRS-FNRS Fellow Mathilde Bataille, who dedicated her thesis on existential hermeneutics to Jean Ladrière. She recently co-edited with Profs Jean Leclercq and Nicolas Monseu the republication of some of his philosophical texts, including his precociously ingenious 1949 ‘Note sur l'existentialisme’ (‘On existentialism’), under the title L'existence, la raison et l'éthique. Tâches de la philosophie selon Jean Ladrière (‘Existence, reason and ethics. The tasks of philosophy according to Jean Ladrière’). Published in conjunction with the colloquium by the Louvain University Press Petites empreintes collection, they are accompanied by a study in the form of a preface and biographical highlights that make them more accessible (the goal of the collection) to a less specialised readership who wish to learn about ‘the fundamental inspiration for Jean Ladrière’s thinking: to achieve a true understanding of the reality and status of the human being.’

The reference collection ‘Empreintes philosophiques’, also published by LUP in conjunction with the colloquium, includes republication of the philosopher’s great 1973 book, Vie sociale et destinée (‘Social life and destiny’), a series of his lessons and lectures that strove to link reason and existence. This was not long after he had written a report for UNESCO entitled ‘Les enjeux de la rationalité. L’impact des sciences et de la technologie sur la culture’ (1970) (‘The stakes of rationality. The impact of science and technology on culture’). As long-time friend Jean Greisch writes in his preface: ‘Few philosophers had so many strings to their bow and knew how to use them with as much dexterity and precision as Jean Ladrière.’

Program of the colloquium.

Published on November 15, 2017