Jean-Baptiste Brenet

Jean-Baptiste Brenet is a French philosopher and historian of philosophy specializing in medieval Arabic and Latin thought, particularly the work and reception of Averroes.

Education Brenet attended school at in Marseille, then Lycée Henri IV in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.

In 2010, he completed his Habilitation to supervise research at the same institution, with Alain de Libera as guarantor. His habilitation was titled There, he directed the GRAMATA Centre (Research Group on Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Arabic Translation). He is a member of the SPHère research laboratory.

Scholarship Brenet translates philosophical works from Arabic and Latin. With Christoph Grellard, he co-founded and co-edits Translatio. Philosophies médiévales, a series published by Librairie philosophique J. Vrin. He also created and hosts “falsafa” a series of meetings (the Arabic Philosophy Rendezvous) devoted to Arabic philosophy at the (Arabic World Institute.)

Brenet’s research focuses principally on Averroes [Ibn Rushd (1126–1198)] as well as Andalusian philosophy.

He studies them both to understand the main concepts of "falsafa," particularly as they relate to metaphysics, anthropology, and philosophy of mind as well as the transmission of this "Arab" philosophy in Latin thought, and more broadly in modern European thought.

The core idea that underpins his work is that European modernity, contrary to conventional thought, does not begin with the Enlightment, but with the philosophies formed in ancient societies. In the presentation for his book (Rivages, 2022), Brenet challenges the conventional account of European modernity as beginning with Descartes, arguing that it obscures earlier Arabic and Latin traditions of thought. Drawing on Aristotle’s comparison of the intellect to the hand as an “instrument of instruments,” His intention, therefore, is to "philosophize in order not to let the darkness prevail."

Awards and distinctions His translation of L’Intellect: Compendium du livre De l’âme, by Averroes (Vrin, 2022) won the Ibn Khaldoun–Léopold Sédar Senghor Prize for Translation.

In 2023, he was decorated by the French Ministry of Culture with the rank of (chevalier, or knight) in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In the same year, he won the essay prize from Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco (PhiloMonaco) for his work, published in 2022 by Rivages.

In 2025, he won the from the Académie Française for his work, (Macula, 2025).

Selected works Translations 1998: William of Auvergne, De l’âme, VII, 1–9. Paris: Vrin. . 2010: Thomas Aquinas, Les Créatures spirituelles. Introduction, translation, and notes by Brenet. Paris: Vrin. . 2013: Thomas Wylton, L’âme intellective. Berlin: De Gruyter. . 2016: Thomas Aquinas, L’Âme et le Corps: Somme de théologie, Ia, q. 75–76. Translation and notes by Brenet; introduction by Bernardo Carlos Bazán. Paris: Vrin. . 2018: Avicenna, Épître sur les prophéties. Introduction by Brenet and O. Lizzini; translated from Arabic and annotated by Brenet. Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin. . 2021: Ibn Tufayl, Le Philosophe sans maître. Edition of the translation by Étienne-Marc Quatremère, with a preface and notes by Brenet. Paris: Payot & Rivages. 2022: Averroes, L’Intellect: Compendium du livre De l’âme. Arabic text established and presented by D. Wirmer; introduction, translation, and notes by Brenet. Paris: Vrin. Recipient of the Ibn Khaldoun–Léopold Sédar Senghor Prize for Translation. 2023: Averroes, Dieu et la connaissance du monde. Paris: Payot & Rivages. 2024: A dossier of Brenet’s translations from medieval Latin authors, including Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas, Siger of Brabant, Étienne Tempier, Giles of Rome, and Thaddeus of Parma, included in Le dehors dedans: Averroès en peinture. Paris: Macula.

Books 2003: Transferts du sujet: La noétique d’Averroes selon Jean de Jandun. Paris: Vrin. . 2013: Les Possibilités de jonction: Averroès–Thomas Wylton. Berlin: De Gruyter. . 2015: Averroès l’inquiétant. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. . 2017: Je fantasme: Averroès et l’espace potentiel. Lagrasse: Verdier. . 2018: Intellect d’amour, with Giorgio Agamben. Lagrasse: Verdier. 2019: Dante et l’averroïsme, with Alain de Libera and Irène Rosier-Catach. Paris: Collège de France and Les Belles Lettres. 2020: Robinson de Guadix. Preface by Kamel Daoud. Lagrasse: Verdier. 2022: Que veut dire penser? Arabes et Latins. Paris: Payot & Rivages. 2023: Demain la veille. Lagrasse: Verdier. 2024: Le dehors dedans: Averroès en peinture. Paris: Macula.

Edited volumes 2007: Averroès et les averroïsmes juif et latin. Proceedings of an international conference held in Paris, 16–18 June 2005. Turnhout: Brepols. . 2018: Sujet libre: Pour Alain de Libera, edited with Laurent Cesalli. Paris: Vrin. 2019: Studying Arabic Philosophy: Meaning, Limits and Challenges of a Modern Discipline, edited with Olga Lizzini. Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin.

Selected articles “Perfection de la philosophie ou philosophe parfait? Jean de Jandun, lecteur d’Averroès.” Recherches de théologie et philosophie médiévales, vol. 68, no. 2, 2001, pp. 310–348. “Les sources et le sens de l’anti-averroïsme de Thomas de Strasbourg.” Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, vol. 90, no. 4, 2006. “Ame Intellective, Âme Cogitative: Jean de Jandun et La Duplex Forma Propria de l’homme.” Vivarium 46, no. 3 (2008): 318–41. “Thomas d’Aquin pense-t-il? Retours sur Hic homo intelligit.” Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, vol. 93, no. 2, 2009. “Sujet, objet, pensée personnelle: L’Anonyme de Giele contre Thomas d’Aquin.” Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Âge, vol. 79, no. 1, 2012. “Siger de Brabant et la notion d’operans intrinsecum: Un coup de maître?” Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, vol. 97, no. 1, 2013. “Pensée, dénomination extrinsèque et changement chez Averroès: Une lecture d’Aristote, Physique VII, 3.” Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Âge, vol. 82, no. 1, 2015. “Averroès et l’intellect matériel diaphane remarques sur une analogie variable.” Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales 85, no. 2 (2018): 261–84. “Métaphysique et politique « en intention seconde » : Jean de Jandun héritier d’Averroès et d’Alexandre d’Aphrodise." Archives d’histoire Doctrinale et Littéraire Du Moyen Age 85 (2018): 109–27. Philosopher pour ne pas laisser gagner la noirceur, by Jean-Baptiste Brenet. Libération. 15 June 2024.