Patrick Savidan

Patrick Savidan is a French philosopher.

Early life and education He was born in 1965 in La Roche-sur-Yon, the son of a career military officer. He spent his childhood on various military bases across Germany and France.

His teachers steered him towards vocational education. He obtained a (BEP) in Accounting, but left school during his première year, the penultimate year of French secondary education. and then was appointed as a teacher at the Lycée Dessaignes in Blois. Since 2021, he has been a professor at the Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, of which he served as president from its inception until 2018; he remains the chair of its scientific council to this day.

From 2018-2020, he was a member of (CSEN).

In 2022, he joined a conference on the topic of risk with philosopher Étienne Bimbenet as well as the author and lecturer . Savidan and Bimbenet are both members of the jury at Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco. He has spearheaded numerous scholarly initiatives aimed at reintroducing issues of social justice into French public debate, specifically the need to further realize the republican ideal of equality and liberty (understood as the absence of domination) in the face of rising inequalities in contemporary post-industrial societies.

In (2007), Savidan emphasizes that equality of opportunity requires significant resources (health, housing, education, training, etc.) to be socially mobilized so that every new generation—and every individual within that generation—has an equal chance. He argues that a highly individualistic conception of equality of opportunity fails to achieve this goal; instead, it tends to reinforce inequalities. For equality of opportunity to become "sustainable," he believes it must foster "social relations that do not render equality of opportunity impossible." To this end, he proposes framing it within a perspective based on solidarity.

In (Do We Really Want Equality?), published in 2015, he examines the reasons behind behaviors (whether in the realm of education, in interactions with social welfare systems, and so on) that tend to exacerbate inequalities, even though many of us proclaim a desire for equality.

Is it a "weakness of will"? Is it a desire for distinction? According to Savidan’s analyses, it is more likely the result of uncertainties that weaken the commitment to solidarity, favoring instead the pursuit of security for one's own loved ones.

Published works Dictionnaire des inégalités et de la justice sociale, editor, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2018. Du minimalisme moral: Essais pour Ruwen Ogien, co-edited with Roberto Merrill, Paris: Éditions Raison publique, 2018. Dire les inégalités: Représentations, figures, savoirs, co-edited with Raphaëlle Guidée, Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2017. Voulons-nous vraiment l'égalité ?, Paris: Éditions Albin Michel, September 2015. Le multiculturalisme, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, Que sais-je ?, 2nd ed., 2011. First published 2009. Repenser l'égalité des chances, Paris: Hachette, Hachette Littératures/Pluriel, 2010. First published 2007. . L'État des inégalités en France 2009, co-edited with Louis Maurin, Paris: Belin, 2008. "Démocratie participative et conflit." Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 2008/2 n° 58, 2008. p.177-189. L'État des inégalités en France 2007, co-edited with Louis Maurin, Paris: Belin, 2006. Dictionnaire des sciences humaines, co-edited with Sylvie Mesure, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2006. La République ou l'Europe ?, editor, Paris: Le Livre de poche, Biblio essais, 2004. “Les inégalités”, Comprendre, no. 4, co-edited with Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2003. Pluralisme et délibération: Enjeux de la philosophie politique contemporaine, co-edited with Koula Mellos, Ottawa: Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa, 1999. Histoire de la philosophie politique, edited by A. Renaut and coordinated by P. Savidan and P.-H. Tavoillot, five volumes, Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1999. La Culture de la dette, with Patrice Martin, Montreal: Boréal, 1994.

Translations Michael Sandel, Justice, Paris: Albin Michel, April 2016. John Dewey, La quête de certitude: Une étude du rapport entre connaissance et action, Paris: Gallimard, Bibliothèque de philosophie, 2014. Originally published in English in 1929. John R. Bowen, L'Islam: un ennemi idéal, Paris: Albin Michel, 2014. Charles Taylor, L’Âge séculier, Paris: Seuil, 2011. John Stuart Mill, Considérations sur le gouvernement représentatif, Paris: Gallimard, 2009. Originally published in English in 1861. Philip Pettit, Républicanisme: Une théorie de la liberté et du gouvernement, translated from English with Jean-Fabien Spitz, Paris: Gallimard, NRF, 2004. . John Searle, Liberté et neurobiologie, Paris: Grasset, Nouveau collège de philosophie, 2003. Jürgen Habermas, Éthique de la discussion et la question de la vérité, Paris: Grasset, Nouveau collège de philosophie, 2003. Will Kymlicka, La citoyenneté multiculturelle, Paris: Boréal and Éditions La Découverte, Textes à l'appui / Politique et sociétés, 2001.