Jean-Toussaint Desanti contributed to the fields of phenomenology and the philosophy of mathematics through an extensive career as a teacher and academic in France. Born in Ajaccio in 1914, he navigated the shifting intellectual landscape of the twentieth century, eventually becoming an influential figure within the University of Paris system and the École Normale Supérieure.
Academic Foundation
Desanti completed his studies at the École Normale Supérieure, where he focused on the philosophy of mathematics under the tutelage of Jean Cavaillès. His later career involved teaching positions at several institutions, including the Lycée Lakanal, the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, and the University of Paris I. Throughout these years, he mentored a generation of thinkers, serving as the doctoral advisor to Jacques Derrida and teaching students such as Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, and Jean-Gérard Bursztein.
Political and Intellectual Trajectory
In 1943, Desanti joined the French Communist Party alongside his wife, Dominique. During this period, he engaged with figures like Jean-Paul Sartre and André Malraux. By 1950, he collaborated with Raymond Guyot, Francis Cohen, and Gérard Vassails on the publication of Science bourgeoise et science proletarienne, a text supporting Lysenkoism. He eventually ended his formal association with the party in 1956, the same year he released his Introduction à l'histoire de la philosophie.
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In 1968, Desanti published Les Idéalités mathématiques, recherches épistémologiques sur le développement de la théorie des fonctions de variables réelles. Étienne Balibar noted that Desanti departed from traditional Platonic or transcendental interpretations of mathematical truth. Instead, he examined the mediations that allow elementary theories to undergo generalization and re-foundation. His broader body of work includes titles such as Phénoménologie et praxis, La Philosophie silencieuse ou Critique des philosophies de la science, and Réflexions sur le temps.
Final Years
Desanti remained intellectually active into the early twenty-first century, publishing Philosophie, un rêve de flambeur in 1999 and La liberté nous aime encore in 2001. In early 2002, he underwent coronary artery bypass surgery in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. He died less than three weeks later at the age of 88.
Fast facts
- Born: 1914, Ajaccio
- Died: 20 January 2002, 10th arrondissement of Paris
- Nationality: France
- Primary occupations: Mathematician, university teacher, philosopher
- Education: École Normale Supérieure
- Key work: Les Idéalités mathématiques (1968)
- Political affiliation: French Communist Party (1943–1956)
Questions readers ask
What subjects did Desanti study at the École Normale Supérieure?
He studied the philosophy of mathematics under Jean Cavaillès.
Who were some of his notable students?
His students included Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, and Jean-Gérard Bursztein, and he served as the doctoral advisor to Jacques Derrida.
When did he publish his work on mathematical idealities?
This work was published in 1968 under the title Les Idéalités mathématiques, recherches épistémologiques sur le développement de la théorie des fonctions de variables réelles.
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