Presentation

Archives de philosophie in figures

1 editorial board of 18 academics, meeting twice a year
1 scientific committee of 16 members from international universities, intervening on request
1 reading committee of a dozen people, regularly renewed according to specialization
1 language, French, with regular English translations available digitally, and 1 French-speaking tradition of free publication for authors.

Each year:
– 4 quarterly issues, totalling 896 pages, or around… 3 million characters per year, not counting online supplements.
– At least 4 thematic dossiers.
– 6 bibliographic bulletins listing recent international publications in the fields of Cartesian, Spinozist, Hegelian, Leibnizian, English and medieval philosophy, i.e. over 100 reviews published each year. Around 1/3 of the authors of these reviews are foreign academics.

1 website relaying 2 international digital libraries:
– Cairn, open access from 2001 until one year after the date of going online, and then paid access for one year.
– Jstor, open access only, from its foundation until two years before the current year.

Areas of interest

Archives de philosophie does not limit itself to a single field, even if it does have a fondness for certain ones, such as ancient, Cartesian and English philosophies, or German idealism.

En complément de la participation à la recherche dans ces thèmes traditionnels, la revue s’intéresse très tôt à plusieurs mouvements de phénoménologie, incluant l’herméneutique, la psychanalyse et la philosophie nord-américaine depuis ses débuts et dans toute son ampleur. As early as 1931, a study on Freud was published, and a year later another on Indian thought.

In current research, the magazine places even greater emphasis on the dialogue between philosophy and the human sciences (sociology, psychoanalysis, history, but also language, semiotics, ethnography, biology, etc.). How does this dialogue influence the style and content of philosophical reflection, and thus renew its questioning? How does it shape new models of reason and rationality? Similarly, to what extent does this dialogue lead the humanities to question the type of rationality at work within them?

Archives de philosophie is also developing rare interests such as American pragmatic philosophy, Russian philosophy, aesthetics and the great Jewish authors.

A century of history

Founded shortly after the First World War, in 1922, Archives de philosophie took part in the philosophical debates and intellectual renewal of the interwar period. Its founder Joseph Souilhé, known for his work on Plato, had no intention of limiting himself to the controversies of his day. The title was inspired by that of the fine German journal Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie. This title – Archives de philosophie – establishes the magazine as a program, by announcing that we would avoid confining ourselves to the polemics of current events, in order to work on the foundations that nourish and illuminate these current events, whether they be the great thinkers in the history of philosophy, or questions essential enough not to cease to be articulated in new forms.

Suspended during the Second World War, the publication of Archives de philosophie gradually regained its momentum until the decisive intervention of Marcel Régnier in 1963, who stabilized its publication rhythm and considerably expanded its international network. The number of foreign contributors, which had been very small until then, became sufficiently important to mark the magazine’s physiognomy, which was provided with the flexible structure still used today: one or more thematic dossiers bringing together articles in relation or in opposition to its theme, combined with the publication, uninterrupted since 1972, of now six annual bulletins on Cartesian, Spinozist, medieval, Hegelian, Leibnizian and finally English philosophy. Researchers from various continents take part, providing international book reviews.

All these articles, translated into French, make the Archives a meeting place for philosophical research outside France. This option is attracting a growing number of readers outside France.

One objective: to feed the present

In keeping with this tradition, the aim of Archives de philosophie remains to work in particular with those who, in current research, are interested in the concerns, questions and expectations of the present time, taking care to respect the right amount of time to provide the necessary distance for thought, but a sufficiently limited amount of time to be anchored in the present.

It’s this finely tuned, joint effort that enables Archives de philosophie to play an active role in the philosophical arguments of his time, in all fields.

A rhythm

This founding principle of working on the foundations that nourish and shed light on current affairs is implemented on a quarterly basis, with each year:

• • one or two dossiers on an author (Rawls, Bacon, Fichte, Rorty, Habermas, Pierre Bayle, Strauss, Hans Jonas, Leibniz…)
  • one or two dossiers on a topical philosophical issue (La vieillesse chez les Anciens, La médecine et ses humanismes, Penser la politique en Islam, Le jugement en péril, Faire l’histoire de la race, La philosophie russe et le positivisme…)
  • a dossier on aesthetics or a dialogue between philosophy and the human sciences (Entre philosophie et architecture, Nouvelles recherches sur le cinéma, L’esthétique tout simplement ; La preuve ontologique, Droit et philosophie, Anthropologie structurale et philosophie… )

University bases

The magazine entrusts the production of its dossiers to a team of subject specialists led by a manager, in conjunction with an editor-in-chief and an editorial board.
Meeting twice a year, this committee plays an exploratory role and selects topics, with all future articles being evaluated and even screened by peers.
In addition, an international scientific committee can be consulted on request by the editor-in-chief.

It is the seriousness of this work that has earned the Archives the support of the Centre national de recherche scientifique (CNRS), without interruption, since 1955.

ISSN 

0003-9632