French philosophy French philosophy French philosophy, here taken to mean philosophy in the French language, has been extremely diverse and has influenced Western philosophy as a whole for centuries, from the medieval scholasticism of Peter Abelard, through the founding of modern philosophy by René Descartes, to 20th century philosophy of science, existentialism, phenomenology, structuralism, and postmodernism. Peter Abelard (1079 – April 21, 1142) was a scholastic philosopher, theologian and logician. The story of his affair with and love for Héloïse has become legendary. The "Chambers Biographical Dictionary" describes him as "the keenest thinker and boldest theologian of the 12th Century". The general
Right to Philosophy Right to Philosophy On the Right to Philosophy () is a 1990 book by French philosopher Jacques Derrida. It collects all of Derrida's writings, from 1975 till 1990, on the issue of the teaching of philosophy, the academic institution and the politics of philosophy in school and in the university. It has been translated in English in two volumes: Who's Afraid of Philosophy?: Right to Philosophy 1 (2002), and Eyes of the University: Right to Philosophy 2 (2004). Volume 1 contains the essay "Where a Teaching Body Begins and How It Ends", (pp. 67–91) first published separately in 1976 in