Visit to places of philosophical interest in Paris (December 2007)

Information: A review of my visit to some places of philosophical significance in Paris, France.

During December 2007, I visited Paris. One of the exciting things about walking round parts of this noted area of the city is the fact that there is a lot of philosophical history all around you. For instance, one area I was very keen to visit was Saint-Germain-des-Prés area. This is where noted Existentialist thinkers such as Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86) were said to have sat, drank coffee and discussed their ideas.

Existentialism was an influential French philosophical movement in the 1950s, It is often regarded as a philosophy which attempts to explain how and why people find meaning in life in the face of death (and nothing beyond it).

The author outside the Les Deux Magots cafe in Paris (which Sartre and Beauvoir frequented). Across the road is the Brasserie Lipp, another famous haunt of noted French artists and intellectuals.

Standing outside some of the cafes I tried to imagine the area as say Sartre and Beauvoir would have seen it, and what (if anything) going on in the street outside the places they frequented would have inspired them in their philosophical thoughts. Being one of the oldest parts of Paris, I also wondered whether their thoughts easily ventured towards the question of life's meaning and purpose in the face of death, or whether anyone they met or chatted to made them consider whether this is all life amounted to. I also wondered as I walked around whether anything I was seeing had been an inspiration in their thoughts and writing.

Across from the Les Deux Magots cafe is the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and inside it is the tomb of probably one of the most famous philosophers in the world (I think... that's a clue!)

Well the famous tomb inside the Abbey is none other than that of René Descartes (1596-1650), whose body has lain there since just after the French Revolution.

Tomb of Descartes at the Abbey of Saint-Germain des Pres, Paris (Source: Wikipedia)

In case one is completely ignorant of who Descartes was, he is commonly regarded as the Father of Modern Philosophy. This is because his philosophical insights have largely set the tone and agenda for much of what is discussed in modern philosophy today.

Descartes famously set himself the challenge of discovering only those things he could never doubt were true. Sitting by the fire in his room, he wrote a series of Meditations in which he doubted not only that his senses could give him reliable knowledge of things in the world, but also that reality (as he had known it) might not exist (as he had believed it did) and that a malevolent being might have been tricking him into believing some things were true, when they were not. Yet despite all his doubting, the one thing he could not doubt was that he was having doubting thoughts. This led him to famously exclaim, Cogito ergo sum ('I am thinking, therefore I must exist').

Okay, confession time! I actually went into the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, walked around it taking pictures and then left without realising that I had passed by the tomb of Descartes (hence the borrowed picture from Wikipedia). What is even more frustrating is that I remember actually standing in front of his tomb and debating taking a picture of it (but did not realise what it was). The funny thing is that here is a perfect illustration of what Descartes' Method of Doubt was trying to get at. There is a reality (a truth to be known), but we may be missing it if we are relying on an inadequate means (and method) to discover it. The reality was that I had been in the very place Descartes' tomb was in and had actually stood right in front of it, yet I could not see it even though it had been there all the time; I simply did not comprehend the true nature of the reality around me!

Some views inside the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés

I am not a huge fan of Descartes' philosophy (I find his assumption that God must exist in order to justify the presence of indubitable knowledge to be something which significantly undermines his theory of knowledge), nevertheless his questions about the true nature of reality and how we know this are tantalizingly simple, yet frustratingly difficult to answer. I find that once one begins to take seriously the questions he asks about our own experience and the world around us, that these never really leave you and are forever in the background of your mind; niggling away in one's thoughts as we try and justify what we believe to be true about ourselves, others and the world we live in.

'Everything I have accepted up to now as being absolutely true and assured, I have learned from or through the senses. But I have sometimes found that these senses played me false, and it is prudent never to trust entirely those who have once deceived us.' (First Meditation)

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Later on I was pleased to find the Rue Descartes in the 5th arrondisement, as I believe all students of philosophy should (metaphorically) travel down this road at the commencement of their their studies.

The author in front of the Rue Descartes road sign

My last great philosophical find was the Panthéon. Now unlike the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, I already knew prior to visiting this place that the tombs of Voltaire (1694-1778) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) could be found inside. However, having sought the place out I actually did not go inside because I could not take pictures in there, and also because at this stage we were pushed for time.

The author outside the Panthéon

Make no mistake, the Panthéon is a very impressive building. It also also huge and richly decorated. One thing that immediately struck me was all the detailed carving all around the building. It is a fitting place the many great people entombed inside.

I found out (later) that the Panthéon had been one of the places Adolf Hitler had visited, when he came to Paris in 1940. It was strange to think that I had stood in the very place where he had once been - a not too pleasant thought really!

I found it quite thought-provoking to be around the Panthéon, knowing Voltaire and Rousseau were entombed inside. I mean, here are the bodies of two men who became influential and respected figures in the literary, philosophical and political worlds. I found myself thinking how a life can make such a difference in the world, and resolved myself to make the most of the time I will spend on the planet (however long that is).

So having seen some of the philosophical history of Paris, we headed off to see some of the more conventional tourist spots. I just hope that one day I get the chance to come back to Paris to see more of its philosophical history, and also to (finally) see Descartes' tomb if for no other than so I can get my own picture of it for the site.

 

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