Background
Polin, Raymond was born in 1910 in Briançon.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Other Work
- publications
- ( 1944) lM Création des Valeurs. Paris: PUF.( 1945) La Compréhension des Valeurs, Paris: PUF. (1948) Du Laid, du mal, du faux, Paris: PUF.11977) La Liberté de notre temps, Paris: Vrin.11984) Le Libéralisme, Paris: Table Ronde.(1993) IM Création des cultures, Paris: PUF. Secondary literature
- Smith, C. ( 1964) Contemporary French Philosophy: A Study in Norms and Values, London: Methuen, chapter 11.For Polin there is a radical division between the world of fact and that of value. Facts are fixed, can be known and consist of what is in some sense before us. By contrast, values are fluid, not present to us and consist of a demand for something other than what there is. They have to be created, and what is necessary to their creation is the imagination, which frees us from the actual and allows us to consider what is possible.When a value is created it becomes fixed and present to us. It is thus no longer a value but a fact: its status is inevitably destroyed by its being brought into being. We must go on to new values in a process of endless and continuous creation.Values, according to Polin, are not grounded in anything which can function as their guarantee or authority. Any authority for the creation of values would itself have to be guaranteed by a more fundamental authority, and there would thus be an infinite regress.
Raymond Polin
Raymond Polin, Existentialist; moral philosopher.
Education
Lycde d’Evareux, Lycee Louis-le-Grand and Faculte des Lettres, Paris.
Career
Taught at the École Normale Supérieure, 1935-1938, and at various lycées, 1938-1945. Professor at the Sorbonne, 1961-1981. Visiting Professorships at Harvard and Yale Universities.
•'(lain publications;
( 1944) lM Création des Valeurs.
Paris: PUF.
( 1945) La Compréhension des Valeurs, Paris: PUF. (1948) Du Laid, du mal, du faux, Paris: PUF.
11977) La Liberté de notre temps, Paris: Vrin.
11984) Le Libéralisme, Paris: Table Ronde.
(1993) IM Création des cultures, Paris: PUF.
Works
Other Work
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publications
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( 1944) lM Création des Valeurs. Paris: PUF.( 1945) La Compréhension des Valeurs, Paris: PUF. (1948) Du Laid, du mal, du faux, Paris: PUF.11977) La Liberté de notre temps, Paris: Vrin.11984) Le Libéralisme, Paris: Table Ronde.(1993) IM Création des cultures, Paris: PUF. Secondary literature
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Smith, C. ( 1964) Contemporary French Philosophy: A Study in Norms and Values, London: Methuen, chapter 11.For Polin there is a radical division between the world of fact and that of value. Facts are fixed, can be known and consist of what is in some sense before us. By contrast, values are fluid, not present to us and consist of a demand for something other than what there is. They have to be created, and what is necessary to their creation is the imagination, which frees us from the actual and allows us to consider what is possible.When a value is created it becomes fixed and present to us. It is thus no longer a value but a fact: its status is inevitably destroyed by its being brought into being. We must go on to new values in a process of endless and continuous creation.Values, according to Polin, are not grounded in anything which can function as their guarantee or authority. Any authority for the creation of values would itself have to be guaranteed by a more fundamental authority, and there would thus be an infinite regress.
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Views
For Polin there is a radical division between the world of fact and that of value. Facts are fixed, can be known and consist of what is in some sense before us. By contrast, values are fluid, not present to us and consist of a demand for something other than what there is.
They have to be created, and what is necessary to their creation is the imagination, which frees us from the actual and allows us to consider what is possible.
When a value is created it becomes fixed and present to us. It is thus no longer a value but a fact: its status is inevitably destroyed by its being brought into being. We must go on to new values in a process of endless and continuous creation.
Values, according to Polin, are not grounded in anything which can function as their guarantee or authority.
Any authority for the creation of values would itself have to be guaranteed by a more fundamental authority, and there would thus be an infinite regress.
Polin contrasts values with social norms. Values are private and must be acted upon to be brought into being. If a value, once brought into being and thus having the status of a fact, is accepted by society, it is a social norm.
As such, it is public and can be investigated as a historical phenomenon.
Membership
Administration Council, ORTF 1972-1974. Academy, des sciences morales et politiques (Institute de France).
Connections
Married Marie-Therese Blahovcova in 1934.
- Father:
- Marcel Polin
- Mother:
- Jeanne Foulet
- Spouse:
- Marie-Therese Blahovcova
