Vincent Descombes

 Vincent Descombes is a philosopher and lecturer at the L’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. His main areas of research are practical philosophy from an analytical standpoint clearly influenced by Wittgenstein. In this field he has produced inter alia a highly detailed theory of action, moral judgement and the subject. Recently he has been particularly concerned with issues pertaining to contemporary political uses of the word “identity” and others deriving from it. In this area, he has sought to clarify and reconsider present-day debates on people in groups. He has published a considerable number of books, notable amongst which are Le même et l’autre. Quarante-cinq ans de philosophie française (1933-1978) (Minuit, 1979); Proust. Philosophie du roman (Minuit, 1987 – published in English as Proust: Philosophy of the Novel, Stanford UP); Les institutions du sens (Minuit, 1996); Le complément du sujet (Gallimard, 2004); Dernières nouvelles du moi (co-authored with Charles Larmore, PUF, 2009); Exercices d’humanité. Dialogue avec Philippe de Lara (Les dialogues des petits Platons, 2013) and Les embarras de l’identité (Gallimard, 2013).