People

François Raffoul

Retired Professor, Philosophy and French Studies

 

Biography

François Raffoul is an ancien élève of the École Normale Supérieure of St Cloud/Fontenay, agrégé de philosophie, and holds a Doctorate in Philosophy from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Jacques Derrida, advisor). Before joining the Philosophy faculty at LSU in 2000, he taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook from 1988 to 1996. In 2012 he was also named Professor of French Studies with teaching duties in that department. He co-directs the book series Contemporary French Thought for SUNY Press.

 

Areas of Interest

Professor Raffoul specializes in contemporary continental philosophy, on which he has published and lectured extensively, with numerous essays and articles on Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Nancy, Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jacques Lacan, among others. His research has focused on continental theories of subjectivity, in particular its ethical dimension, exploring the question of responsibility in contemporary continental thought. His reflection on ethics has paid special attention to the phenomenological concept of facticity. He is now pursuing research on the question of the event in contemporary thought.

Courses Offered:

• PHIL 3003 French Existentialism
• PHIL 4003 Contemporary French Philosophy
• PHIL 4952/CPLT 7120 Philosophy of the Event
• PHIL 4954/FREN 4080 The Thought of Jacques Derrida
• PHIL 7903 Philosophy of Responsibility

 

Awards and Honors

• Translation of Juan David Nasio, Oedipus: The Most Crucial Concept in Psychoanalysis (SUNY Press) named by Choice: Reviews Online as one of the "Outstanding Academic Titles" for 2011
• LSU “Rainmaker,” one of 100 top faculty at LSU, 2008
• ATLAS research grant ($35,000), 2006-2007
• Manship Summer Research Fellowship, LSU, 2001, 2012, 2020

 

Selected Publications

Books Authored

• Thinking the Event. Indiana University Press, 2020. 363 pp
• The Origins of Responsibility. Indiana University Press, 2010. 328 pp
• A chaque fois mien. Paris, France: Galilée, 2004. 267 pp
• Heidegger and the Subject. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1999. 320 pp

Books Edited

• The Bloomsbury Companion to Heidegger, Co-editor with Eric S. Nelson. Bloomsbury, 2013
• French Interpretations of Heidegger: An Exceptional Reception. Co-editor with David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 2008. 300 pp
• Rethinking Facticity. Co-editor with Eric Nelson. SUNY Press, 2008. 383 pp
• Heidegger and Practical Philosophy. Co-editor with David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 2002. 367 pp
• Disseminating Lacan. Co-editor with David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 1996. 392 pp

Books Translated

• Dominique Janicaud. Heidegger in France. Translation, introduction, and notes. With David Pettigrew. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, October 2015.
• Jean-Luc Nancy. Identity. Translation and notes. Fordham University Press. 
• Jacques Derrida. Ulysse Gramophone in "Derrida and Joyce: Texts and Contexts." eds. Andrew Mitchell and A. Slote (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2013)
• Juan-David Nasio. Oedipus: The Most Crucial Concept in Psychoanalysis. Translation, introduction and notes. With David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 2010. 229 pp. (French)
• Jean-Luc Nancy. The Creation of the World or Globalization. Translation, introduction and notes. With David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 2007. 129 pp.
• Martin Heidegger. Four Seminars. Translation, introduction, and notes. With Andrew Mitchell. Indiana University Press, 2003. 118 pp.
• Juan-David Nasio. The Book of Love and Pain: Thinking at the Limit with Freud and Lacan. Translation, introduction and notes. With David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 2003. 143 pp.
• Juan-David Nasio. Five Lessons on the Psychoanalytical Theory of Jacques Lacan. Translation, introduction and notes. With David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 1998. 158 pp.
• Françoise Dastur. Heidegger and the Question of Time. Translation, introduction and notes. With David Pettigrew. Prometheus, 1998. 79 pp.
• Jean-Luc Nancy. The Gravity of Thought. Translation, introduction and notes. With Gregory Recco. With Translator's Preface. Prometheus, 1998. 92 pp.
• Ph. Lacoue-Labarthe and J. L. Nancy. The Title of the Letter: a Reading of Lacan. Translation, introduction and notes. With David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 1992. 151 pp.

Selected Articles

• “Chez lui chez  l’autre.” Invited article for a special issue of Les Temps Modernes on the thought of Jacques Derrida (2011).
• “The Aporia of History.” Invited article for a special issue of the journal POLIGRAFI on the theme of “Natural History” (2011).
• “The Event of Space.” In Gatherings, Annual Journal of the Heidegger Circle (2011).
• “The Coexistence of the World, or The Intertwining of Singularities.” The Yearbook of Comparative Literature (Jan 2011).
• “Derrida and the Ethics of the Im-possible.” Research in Phenomenology 38 (Spring 2008): 270-90.
• “Derrida et l’éthique de l’impossible.”Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, special issue on the thought of Jacques Derrida, (Spring 2007): 73-88.
• “Rethinking Selfhood: From Ereignis.” Research in Phenomenology 37 (2007): 75-94.
• "The Logic of the With: On Nancy’s Etre Singulier Pluriel.” Studies in Practical Philosophy 1.1 (Spring 1999): 36-52.
• “On Hospitality, Between Ethics and Politics: Reading Derrida's Adieu à Emmanuel Levinas.” Research in Phenomenology 28 (1998): 274-83.
• “The Subject of the Welcome.” Symposium  (Journal of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy) 2.2 (Fall 1998): 211-22.
• “Responsabilité et Altérité chez Heidegger et Lévinas.” Symposium (Journal of the Canadian Society for Continental Philosophy) 1.1 (1997): 49-64.
• “Heidegger and Kant: The Question of Idealism.” Philosophy Today (De Paul University) 40.4/4 (Winter 1996): 531-47.
• “Otherness and Individuation in Heidegger.” Man and World (Kluwer) 28.4 (Oct 1995): 341-58

Essays

• “The Question of Responsibility between Levinas and Heidegger.” In Between Levinas and Heidegger. Edited by Eric Sean Nelson and John Drabinski. SUNY Press, under contract.
• “The Self-Deconstruction of Christianity.” In Re-treating Religion: Deconstructing Christianity with Jean-Luc Nancy. Edited by Ignaas Devish. Fordham University Press, forthcoming.
• “The Categorical Imperative of Being.” In Jean-Luc Nancy: Justice, Legality and World. Edited by Benjamin Hutchens. Continuum, forthcoming.
• “Derrida and Responsibility.” In Blackwell Companion to Derrida. Edited by Len Lawlor. Blackwell, forthcoming.
• “Appropriations and Expropriations of Responsibility.” In Heidegger in the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Paul Ennis and Tziovanis Georgakis. Springer, forthcoming.
• “La création du monde” In Jean-Luc Nancy: Figures du Dehors. Paris, France: PUF, forthcoming.
• “The Creation of the World.” In Jean-Luc Nancy and Plural Thinking: Expositions of World, Politics, Art and Sense. Edited by Marie-Eve Morin and Peter Gratton. SUNY Press, 2011.
• “The French Reception of Heidegger.” Editor’s introduction. Pages 1-22 in French Interpretations of Heidegger. Edited by D. Pettigrew and F. Raffoul. SUNY Press, 2008.
• “The Question of Facticity in Contemporary Continental Thought.” Editor’s introduction. Pages 1-22 inRethinking Facticity. Edited by F. Raffoul and E. Nelson. SUNY Press, 2008.
• “Factical Life and the Need for Philosophy.” Pages 69-85 in Rethinking Facticity. Edited by F. Raffoul and E. Nelson. SUNY Press, 2008.
• “Heidegger and Ethics.” Pages 501-523 in Phenomenology 2005: Selected Essays From North America Part 2. Edited by Lester Embree and Thomas Nenon. Zeta Books, 2007.
• “Jean-Luc Nancy, World, Justice and Globalization.” Translator’s introduction. Pages 1-26 in Jean-Luc Nancy, The Creation of the World or Globalization. SUNY Press, 2007.
• “L'être et l'autre: sur la lecture lévinassienne de Heidegger.” Pages 93-110 in Heidegger: Le danger et la promesse. Edited by Gérard Bensussan and Joseph Cohen. Paris: Kimé, 2006.
• “Being and the Other: Ethics and Ontology in Heidegger and Levinas.” Pages 138-51 in Addressing Levinas. Edited by Eric Sean Nelson, Antje Kapust, and Kent Still. Northwestern University Press, 2005.
• “Le Rien du monde.” Pages 131-44 in Lieux Propices: L’énonciation des lieux/Le lieu de l’énonciation dans les contextes francophones interculturels. Edited by Adelaide Russo and Simon Harel. Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2005.
• “La pensée éthique de Françoise Dastur.” Pages 241-55 in La Philosophie de Françoise Dastur. Le Cercle Herméneutique 3-4. Paris: Vrin, 2005.
• “Heidegger and the Origins of Responsibility.” Pages 205-218 in Heidegger and Practical Philosophy. Edited by François Raffoul and David Pettigrew. SUNY Press, 2002.
• “Lacan and the Event of the Subject.” Pages 63-82 in Continental Philosophy-VI. New York and London: Routledge, 1997.

Review Articles

• “Openness and Thought: The Liminal Interrogations of David Wood.” Review article of David Wood'sThinking After Heidegger. Research in Phenomenology 34 (Fall 2004): 269-79.
• “The Untold Story of Heidegger in France.” Review article of Dominique Janicaud's Heidegger en France. Research in Phenomenology 33 (2003): 299-305.

Dictionary Entries

• “Dasein” (3500 words), “Ethics” (3500 words), “Derrida” (3500 words). In Heidegger Companion. Edited by François Raffoul and Eric S. Nelson. Continuum Press, under contract.
• "Ethics" (6316 words). Pages 559-69 in The Edinburgh Companion to Twentieth-Century Philosophies. Edited by Constantin V. Boundas. Edinburgh University Press, 2007. Also published as The Columbia Companion to Twentieth-Century Philosophies. Columbia University Press, 2007.
• "Subject" (1000 words), "Dasein" (250 words), "Jean-Luc Nancy,” (500 words) "Ethics" (1000 words). In The Edinburgh Dictionary of Continental Philosophy. Edinburgh University Press, 2006.