Maël Goarzin
LausanneHere we take a look at the career of Maël Goarzin, a doctoral student and librarian at the University of Lausanne...
Studies, reading, projects... Here's what he has to say!
Can you introduce yourself? What are you currently doing?
Doctoral fellow at the University of Lausanne and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, for 5 years I held the position of graduate assistant in the Chair of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at the University of Lausanne. For almost a year now, I have been responsible for the philosophy and psychology collections at the University Library in Lausanne. I am also continuing my research and scientific blogging activities, with the idea of sharing my interest in ancient philosophy and philosophy as a way of life with as wide an audience as possible.
What memories do you have of your studies? Of your teachers?
The last year of lycée, with its 7 hours a week of philosophy, was a revelation. Enthused until then by literature, I discovered and loved this new discipline, in particular the fact that throughout the year I could explore different ways of approaching a question and thinking about the same subject. This discovery and infatuation with philosophy I owe to my philosophy teacher at the time, Babeth Le Léon, who was able to combine and arouse in me the rigour of thought and open-mindedness necessary to awaken a teenager's curiosity to better understand the world in which they live and to make a place for themselves in it.
After two years of preparatory classes in Paris, I began a university course in philosophy at the University of Lausanne. It was there, thanks to Alexandrine Schniewind, who would later become my thesis supervisor, that I developed a taste for ancient philosophy and discovered Plotinus, whose thought would become the subject of my master's thesis. University gave me the opportunity to delve deeper into the thought of an author or a work over the course of a semester, and I learnt on this occasion the asceticism that can be represented by the continuous and detailed reading of a philosophical text.
It was also in Lausanne that I met Philippe Hoffmann, director of studies at the EPHE, who was able to awaken my interest in the Greek language and the philological analysis of ancient texts through the meticulous word-by-word reading of Plutarch's treatise On Curiosity. He was also able to confirm my interest in philosophy as a way of life, following in the footsteps of Pierre Hadot.
Which philosophy book have you been particularly passionate about? The author you fell in love with at first sight?
I have already mentioned Pierre Hadot, he is certainly the contemporary author who has made the biggest impression on me, particularly through reading What is Ancient Philosophy? and his many articles collected in a volume entitled Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique. Reading Pierre Hadot's interviews with Jeannie Carlier and Arnold Davidson, published under the title Philosophy as a way of life, confirmed my enthusiasm for this author who, as a historian of philosophy and philologist, highlighted the practical and existential dimension of ancient philosophy very well, and who, as a philosopher this time, wanted to put the ancient models he had chosen to study into practice in his own life. It was undoubtedly this book that gave me a taste for the interview as a form of expression.
I was able to share this enthusiasm for Pierre Hadot's thought by interviewing Philippe Hoffmann in a series of videos published on Youtube. Through his study of ancient philosophers, Pierre Hadot has highlighted the existential dimension of philosophy, considered not only as a discourse, but also and above all as a way of life. To become a philosopher is to make a choice: the choice of a philosophical life. Xavier Pavie, whom I was lucky enough to meet and interview, too, in a series of videos devoted to ancient and contemporary spiritual exercises, shows very well the importance of this life choice.
Have you ever tried your hand at writing? Could you tell us about your creations?
My master's thesis, devoted to the role of discursive reason (dianoia) in the soul's spiritual journey towards the One, through a detailed commentary on the first part of Plotinus' treatise 49 [V 3] on self-knowledge, gave me my first brush with academic writing. Then, my enrolment in thesis enabled me to discover the various forms of academic writing: articles, reviews, research projects, etc. While I have become accustomed to the article format, which requires great concision and a spirit of synthesis, I do prefer the more flexible thesis format, which allows for more in-depth reading and commentary on texts without worrying about word count, which is much less frustrating.
Writing short blog articles, for 6 years now, is also a way for me to pass on my research to as many people as possible, by removing some of the constraints of the academic writing style. Posting on social networks, in particular Facebook and Twitter, has enabled me to get rapid feedback on my ongoing research, and I've been able to reach a public that doesn't read conventional scientific literature. There's a lot of scientific mediation work to be done to convey scientific knowledge to as many people as possible, leaving out scientific jargon and aiming above all for clarity. From this perspective, scientific blogging is a good way of disseminating knowledge.
What are your projects, your research work?
My main project, currently put on hold for family reasons, is the writing of my thesis, devoted to the practical dimension of the Neoplatonic philosophical way of life. Through the study of the lives of philosophers written in late antiquity, I would like to show that the daily life of philosophers does not exclude the care of the body and concern for others, but that these are, on the contrary, two dimensions of the philosophical way of life that prepare the soul and at the same time reflect the soul's journey towards the divine.
I am also happily continuing to write my research notebook, How to live everyday?, devoted to philosophy as a way of life, from Antiquity to the present day. The point of view adopted is that of the historian of philosophy, through the reading and interpretation of ancient philosophers, but I have also emphasised, since the beginning of this notebook, the (in)topicality of ancient philosophy, regularly questioning its relevance to our current way of life.
At the same time, I am involved in the development of the Stoa Gallica association, whose aim is to promote the study and dissemination of Stoicism in the French-speaking world. Like the recent craze for a contemporary Stoicism in Anglo-Saxon circles, Stoa Gallica invites those who wish to do so to take the Stoic choice of life seriously. For the moment, exchanges take place on the Stoa Gallica Facebook group page, but the association's website is under construction, as well as a journal to publish the fruits of our labours.
Finally, I'm working on a project to promote exemplary lives. This is a joint project carried out in particular with Alexandre Rigal, a sociologist by training, whose thesis focused on changing habits linked to mobility. Our joint work involves broadening this perspective by applying it to all aspects of our daily lives. In antiquity as today, the role of models is crucial in the prospect of conversion or a change in lifestyle. Highlighting these examples invites us to follow these models or at least to question our current way of life, and thus live ever more consciously in a world where many decisions are beyond our control.
Thank you Maël, for this testimonial!
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