Cultural Traditions of France   Term Paper ID:27474 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Reviews the cultural traditions of France from the Roman era to contemporary times. Focuses on a discussion of French philosophy & literature.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 3 sources, 8 Citations, APA Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Reviews the cultural traditions of France from the Roman era to contemporary times. Focuses on a discussion of French philosophy & literature. Paper Introduction: Cultural Traditions of France This essay analyzes some of the cultural traditions of France through a discussion of its philosophy and literature. Philosophy The history of France begins with the Romans, who first entered what is modern day France in the second century BC. There they encountered the Celts, who were a metal-age people from northern and central Europe who had migrated into the area from about 1000 BC. As one author states, "Celtic Gaul was never more than a geographical expression and bequeathed little of substance to the French -- neither language, faith, institutions, nor customs" (Cole, 1989, 7). The Romanization of Gaul began after Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 52 BC. With Rome came good Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Recently, such philosophers and thinkers as Levi-Strauss, Lacan,Foucault, Barthes, Ricouer, and Lyotard have put the French again into thefront ranks of philosophy.Literature For centuries, the French have been acclaimed for their greatliterature. The university had courses inrhetoric, logic, metaphysics, moral, and natural philosophy. They were, generally, critics of society and many of their ideasinfluenced the French Revolution. (1994) Cambridge illustrated history France. (199 ). Cambridge, MA:Cambridge University Press. New York: Alfred A. The French took sides inthis debate. Coles, R. Auguste Comteenunciated his philosophy, which he called positivism, that was quasi-scientific and was based on the idea of the inevitability of socialprogress. As one author notes, "the French followed 'realism' straightto Rene Descartes in the seventeenth century, who linked it with modernmathematics to make 'rationalism'" (Cole, 1989, 64). The Celts took to Romanization and held ontoit for five centuries. And his black humorsustains an endless satire and commentary on current follies." In the 17thcentury, a classic age of French literature was born. Cultural Traditions of France This essay analyzes some of the cultural traditions of France througha discussion of its philosophy and literature.Philosophy The history of France begins with the Romans, who first entered whatis modern day France in the second century BC. After World War II, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, became famous with existentialism and thephilosophy of the absurd, views that also broke with the tradition ofrationalism within French philosophy. Above all, they created an atmosphere of intellectual ferment in which dissatisfaction with the failings of the Ancien Regime was readily expressed and acted upon (Cole, 1989, 1 1). Fragile glory. In the 18th century, a group of philosophers, called the philosophes,arose. With courtly love, there was established anew version of masculinity, which changed or challenged the alreadyestablished warrior ethic. From this onecertainty, he was able to rationally deduce the rest of knowledge.Although many subsequent philosophers have questioned his conclusions, hismethodical and subjective system of rationality set the stage for allsubsequent Western philosophy. Paris was now the intellectual center ofEurope. Bergson emphasized anintuitive, non-rational approach to knowledge. With Rome came good government, hightechnology, profitable trade and eventually Roman citizenship. Jones (1994, 134) notes that "theswarming and inventive burlesquerie of his works teems with verbalfireworks and abstruse puns and language-games. (1989). References Bernstein, R. Other philosophically oriented scholars, such as Taine and Renan,wrote books about religion and social problems. This view led to the creation of sociology as a social scienceand Emile Durkheim was one of the establishers of this new discipline inFrance. Early in the century, Henri Bergson with his work CreativeEvolution achieved an international reputation. The Romanization of Gaul began after JuliusCaesar conquered Gaul in 52 BC. These thinkers were Montesquieu,Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Alembert, Condillac, and others: They created new expressions for established ideas, and some new ideas of their own. From the 14th to the 16th centuries, wars raged across France. The philosopher Simone de Beauvoir,who was also Sartre's lover, had a great influence with her book The SecondSex, which became the "bible of contemporary French feminism" (Jones, 1994,3 3). This new view urged men to be chivalrous andgentlemanly, as well as being courageous (Jones, 1994, 1 7). Descartes, with his work Discourse on Method, began the modern era inphilosophy. In the 16thcentury, the humorous writings of Francois Rabelais showed the growingrichness of the French language. The troubadours helped to establish theconventions of courtly love, in which the courtier quested for the favorsof a distant, idealized lady. As one author states, "CelticGaul was never more than a geographical expression and bequeathed little ofsubstance to the French -- neither language, faith, institutions, norcustoms" (Cole, 1989, 7). As one author statesabout Sartre and his fame, "in the 195 s and '6 s, Sartre himself,novelist, philosopher, and homme engage, emerged as the country's mostrenowned private man" (Bernstein, 199 , 192). Although the French had their first taste of philosophy from theRomans, it was not until the 12th century with the founding of theUniversity of Paris by the philosopher Abelard. The writers of thistime were Corneille and Racine and Moliere in the theatre, as well as LaRouchefoucauld, La Bruyere and La Fontaine. Thescholastics, who were the thinkers of that time, had debates between thephilosophies of realism and nominalism. A traveller's history of France. Latinreplaced Celtic among the elite and slang Latin blended with Celtic amongthe rest of the population. In the 19th century, philosophy again took a new turn. Interlink Books. The nineteenth century saw the great age ofthe French novel, with Balzac and Stendhal, and later Flaubert and Zola. Jones, C. These poets were the troubadours, who combined theirpoetry with musicianship. The intellectual conflicts between the scholastics in Paris led tothe divisions which have characterized western science and philosophy eversince. There they encountered theCelts, who were a metal-age people from northern and central Europe who hadmigrated into the area from about 1 BC. One author has stated that"intellectual life in France 'took off' after Abelard" (Cole, 1989, 47).By the 14th century, Paris had become the intellectual center of Europe andthe University of Paris was the reason. The 2 th century has seen one of the most creative eras for Frenchphilosophy. Also,the plague, known as the Black Death, killed one-third of the population.However, cultural life continued. Realism was the view thatabstractions, such as mathematics, had a real existence. Knopf. From about 11 to 13 , a vernacular lyrical poetry developedin southern France. In the twentieth century, there have been many great French writers,including Proust, Gide, Malraux, Camus, and Sartre. The nominalistsbelieved that abstractions did not actually exist, but they were merelyuseful intellectual devices to speculate with. Education improved and thirteen newFrench universities were founded. Voltaire, the philosophe, alsowrote fiction at this time. He logically followed his methodical doubt until he found oneindisputable fact, that whenever he thought, he existed. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

Many of our Papers can be Downloaded From This Site!

PLEASE READ THIS, IT IS IMPORTANT!

Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). You may place orders for custom research over the phone during office hours. E-mail requests can be made to our graduate and undergraduate department any time, and will be reviewed during office hours. You may also contact customer service any time through e-mail, and we will review your message during business hours. A great many papers can be downloaded right from this site, but not all of them. If you would like to know if a particular paper is downloadable, just look in the description for: "Available for Internet Download: Y" or "Available for Internet Download: N" If you wish to purchase a paper which is NOT available for immediate download, you will need to make other shipping arrangements. Also, please be aware that these orders are processed Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm (PST). If you place your order after 4:45pm on Friday, it will not be processed until the following Monday morning. We charge $8 per page for all of our pre-written reports, plus shipping (and tax for California residents). However, the highest cost of any ONE report is $136, or 17 pages. Please, take a moment. Make sure you have chosen the report you want or need BEFORE you complete your order. If you are not sure, allow us to help you. We do not offer refunds or exchanges, so it is important for you to let us answer your questions during office hours. Reports which are e-mailed or downloaded are in Microsoft Word format. We are making more reports available for e-mail delivery faster than we can update our listings. Please call to check on the status of particular reports. There are many other shipping options which are listed on the Checkout page.