In some previous updates on my Indo-European thought project, I’d mentioned doing some research on Alexandre Koyré. In March and May. I said I’d been working on a piece about his unsuccessful attempt to get elected to a chair at the Collège de France. It was very much a side-project – Koyré is a minor figure in the main story I’m telling. But I have long been interested in him and he connects to almost all of the projects I’ve worked on in the past – from Foucault to Heidegger, territory to Canguilhem. I first discussed his connections to this project back in April 2023, when I was intrigued, again, by his role in a network of ideas. The archives, especially at the Collège de France itself, helped to shed new light on his failure to get elected or, alternatively, the Collège’s missed opportunity. In June I finally got the piece into shape, had some very useful comments from Federico Testa, and submitted it to History of European Ideas. I got the reports very quickly and it was accepted earlier this month.

The article is now available online first, open access – here.

This article discusses an important moment in the career of Alexandre Koyré, and the history of philosophy in France. It looks at the 1951 election of a successor to Étienne Gilson at the Collège de France, for which Koyré was one of the possible candidates, alongside Henri Gouhier and Martial Gueroult. Koyré came close, but Gueroult was elected to the chair. In time, Gueroult was succeeded first by Jean Hyppolite and then, in 1970, by Michel Foucault. Using archival documents to discuss the process in detail, this article shows the weakness of Koyré’s proposers, and the strength of Gouhier’s application. Finally, drawing on Koyré’s outline of his proposed teaching programme, it discusses how success might have shaped his future career, using this as an indication of his position within and beyond a French tradition in the philosophy and history of the sciences.

The journal production moves fast – the proofs have just been sent back. The article will be open access and I’ll share a link as soon as I’m able.

I’ll be speaking briefly about Koyré and Canguilhem at a workshop organised by Federico in Bristol on 26 September. Again, I’ll share more news about that as well.