Edgar Morin (/mɔːˈræn/; French:[ɛdɡaʁmɔʁɛ̃]; néNahoum; born 8 July 1921) is a French philosopher and sociologist of the theory of information who has been recognized for his work on complexity and "complex thought" (pensée complexe),[15] and for his scholarly contributions to such diverse fields as media studies, politics, sociology, visual anthropology, ecology, education, and systems biology. He holds two bachelors, one in history and geography and one in law,[16] and never did a Ph.D.[16] Though less well known in the anglophone world due to the limited availability of English translations of his over 60 books, Morin is renowned in the French-speaking world, Europe, and Latin America.[17]
At the beginning of the 20th century, Morin's family migrated from the Ottoman city of Salonica (Thessaloniki) to Marseille[18] and later to Paris, where Edgar was born. He is of Judeo-Spanish (Sefardi) origin.[19]
When the Germans invaded France in 1940, Morin assisted refugees and joined the French Resistance.[20] As a member of the French Resistance he adopted the pseudonym Morin, which he continues to use. He joined the French Communist Party in 1941.
In 1945, Morin married Violette Chapellaubeau and they lived in Landau, where he served as a lieutenant in the French Occupation army in Germany.
In 1946, he returned to Paris and gave up his military career to pursue his activities with the Communist Party. Due to his critical posture, his relationship with the party gradually deteriorated until he was expelled in 1951 after he published an article in L'Observateur politique, économique et littéraire. In the same year, he was admitted to the National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS).
Morin founded and directed the magazine Arguments [fr] (1954–1962). In 1959 his book Autocritique was published. The book was a sustained reflection on his adherence to, and subsequent exit from, the Communist Party, focusing on the dangers of ideology and self-deception.
Edgar Morin at a colloquium in Rio de Janeiro, 1972.
In 1960, Morin travelled extensively in Latin America, visiting Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Mexico. He returned to France, where he published L'Esprit du Temps, a work on popular culture.
That same year, French sociologist Georges Friedmann brought him and Roland Barthes together to create a Centre for the Study of Mass Communication that, after several name changes, became the Edgar Morin Centre of the EHESS, Paris.[21]
Beginning in 1965, Morin became involved in a large multidisciplinary project, financed by the Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique in Plozévet.
In 1968, Morin replaced the incumbent professor of philosophy, Henri Lefebvre, at the University of Nanterre. He became involved in the student revolts that began to emerge in France. In May 1968 he wrote a series of articles for Le Monde that tried to understand what he called "The Student Commune." He followed the student revolt closely and wrote a second series of articles in Le Monde called "The Revolution without a Face," as well as coauthoring Mai 68: La brèche with Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort.[22]
Following a meeting at a music festival in Fez, Morocco, in 2009, Morin became close with sociology professor Sabah Abouessalam. The couple married in 2012.[24] He collaborated with her on the text, L'homme est faible devant la femme (Presses de la Renaissance, 2013), and in 2020 on Changeons de voie - Les leçons du coronavirus (Denoël, 2020).
Morin's work has become increasingly accessible to the English-speaking world, notably with the 2022 publication of The Challenge of Complexity: Essays by Edgar Morin, which compiled 32 essays, including some that were translated into English for the first time. Morin worked on this collection with sociologist Amy Heath-Carpentier at the age of 101.[25]
Recognition, honours and legacy
Morin did not embrace the French postmodern or poststructuralist movements, instead pursuing his own research agenda. As a result, US academics did not transport his theories into disciplinary discourses in same fashion as they did Foucault's, Derrida's and Galinon-Mélénec's. However, Morin's work spans scholarly and popular literature, and he has appeared on the cover of multiple publications including Sciences Humaines[26] and a special issue of Le Monde.[27]
Several academic institutions have been named in his honour, with research centres based on his transdisciplinary methods and philosophy. These include:transdisciplinary methods and philosophy.[28][29]
Morin is the subject of several biographies as well as documentary films and TV shows. His work has been influential in southern Europe, Latin America, Francophone Africa, and more recently China and Japan.[29]
His 100th birthday in 2021 was celebrated in France, Italy, and Latin America, and several collections of essays were published in his honour.[29][31]
^François Dosse, History of Structuralism: The sign sets, 1967-present, Volume 2, University of Minnesota Press, 1997, p. 449.
^Sacha Kagan, Art and Sustainability: Connecting Patterns for a Culture of Complexity, transcript Verlag, 2014, p. 171.
^Morin, Edgar (1992). "From the concept of system to the paradigm of complexity". Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems. 15 (4): 371–385. doi:10.1016/1061-7361(92)90024-8.
^Edgar Morin, Véronique Nahoum-Grappe, Haïm Vidal Sephiha (1989), Vidal et les siens, Paris: Seuil.
^Morin, Edgar (2009). Vidal and His Family: From Salonica to Paris: The Story of a Sephardic Family in the Twentieth Century. Translated by Cowell, Deborah; Montuori, Alfonso. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN978-1-84519-274-7.
^Morin, Edgar; Boukhardi, Sophie (January 2004). "Talking to Edgar Morin: Defining dialogue". UNESCO: The New Courier: 8–11.
^"Penser avec Edgar Morin, Lire La Méthode", 2008, Robin Fortin, Presses de l'Université Laval.
^Catherine Goillau, « L'humanisme selon Edgar Morin », Le Point Références No. 64, July–August 2016, « La Grèce est ses dieux, une leçon de tolérance? Les textes fondamentaux», p. 108 (in French)
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