André Tosel
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André Tosel | |
|---|---|
| Born | 15 June 1941 Nice, France |
| Died | 14 March 2017 (aged 75) Nice, France |
| Alma mater | École Normale Supérieure |
| Occupations | Philosopher, academic administrator |
| Employer | University of Nice Sophia Antipolis |
| Political party | French Communist Party (1972–1984) |
André Tosel (15 June 1941 – 14 March 2017) was a French Marxist philosopher and academic administrator. He taught Philosophy at the University of Franche-Comté and Pantheon-Sorbonne University until he became a full professor of philosophy at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. He served as its vice president from 1992 to 1998, and as the director of its Center for the History of Ideas from 1998 to 2003. He was the author of several books about Marxism and Marxist theorists.
André Tosel was born on 15 June 1941 in Nice, France.[1] He was raised as a Roman Catholic, and he took a leadership position in the Jeunesse Étudiante Chrétienne at university.[1] He graduated from the École Normale Supérieure, where he was mentored by Louis Althusser.[1] He earned the agrégation in Philosophy in 1965.[1] Tosel joined the Maoist Internationalist Movement during the May 1968 events.[1] He was awarded a PhD in Philosophy in 1982.[1]
Career
Tosel taught Philosophy at the University of Franche-Comté in Besançon and Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris.[1] He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in Nice, where he was the vice president from 1992 to 1998.[1] He also succeeded Dominique Janicaud as the director of the Center for the History of Ideas from 1998 to 2003.[1][2] He was elected as a member of the governing board of its college of arts in 2002,[1] and he retired as professor emeritus in 2012.[3]
Tosel was the author of many books about Marxism and Marxist theorists. He wrote about Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, but also Baruch Spinoza, Antonio Gramsci and Hegel, Immanuel Kant, and György Lukács.[1][2][4] He was a contributor to Actuel Marx and La Pensée.[1] He was a member of the Société française de philosophie.[1]
In his research, Tosel was a critic of consumerism.[5] He argued that capitalism was inherently violent as it rested upon servitude and poverty through debt.[5] He argued in favour of emancipation from the "passive revolution" of globalised capitalism through resistance, or the advocacy of workers rights, feminism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism, and the rejection of neo-colonialism.[5]
According to philosopher Yvon Quiniou, Tosel played a critical role in disseminating Marxist theories in academic circles.[6]
