Emanuele Coccia
EMANUELE COCCIA started off as a scholar of 13th-century philosophy. A philosopher, writer, and Associate Professor at the Ècole des Hautes Ètudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, he now devotes a large part of his work to life in contemporary culture. He is notably the author, in English, of The Sensible Life (Fordham University Press, 2016).
The emergence of philosophy has not been a single, definitive historical event. Rather than a discipline notable for its purpose or method, or for questions and objectives universal across space and time, philosophy is a sort of atmospheric condition, arising suddenly—everywhere and at all times. It can hold sway over human knowledge for a certain period, but also abruptly vanish, often for reasons unknown, just as mild spring weather or a storm can dissipate at a moment’s notice.