Experimentations with the History of Philosophy: Problems, Rhythms, and Encounters

This course explores how 20th-century French thinkers transformed the history of philosophy into a space for experimentation. Focusing on figures often marginalised or overlooked in English-speaking contexts - such as Émile Bréhier, Jules Vuillemin, Jean Hyppolite, and Jean Wahl - we trace how inherited traditions were reworked to open new possibilities for thought. From the reinterpretation of Kant and Hegel to Deleuze’s musical concept of the ritournelle, to Foucault’s division between philosophies of experience and of the concept, to Blanchot’s vision of a radical literary space where philosophy reaches its limit, we examine how philosophy becomes a dynamic practice shaped by science, politics, and aesthetics. Across all sessions, we ask how philosophical traditions are not only received but reinvented in the act of transmission.