Under B.

The new #philtwit list by @keithfrankish.com made me remember how much I liked it there.

Thank you for your comments on this! Genuine fun.

Another helpful de/De distinction. Thank you!

Time to bring up that old post on what to call your favourite dead French philosopher. @philosofemme.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social www.sandrineberges.com/liberty-in-thy-name/what-to-call-your-favorite-dead-french-philosopher
It has mistakes, but, as Kate says, it’s complicated.

The fun is neverending.

There are indeed lots of exceptions.
- when the particle is d' (d'Alembert) or du (du Bellay)
- when the name is monosyllabic (de Lattre)

But even then, exceptions have exceptions (Broglie is monosyllabic – it's pronounced "Breuille" – but nobody says "de Broglie did this").

Welcome to France 🤪

And onward we struggle

Also, it's 'Collins', not 'Hill Collins', and apparently no amount of pointing this out makes a shred of difference

Yes. Just replied to another comment on this point: we need a locatives starting with vowels caveat, which usage gives.

Right! We need a locatives starting with vowels caveat. But usage gives us that.

Confusing, right? How are you supposed to know when a particle is French or Flemish, nobiliary or not?

Usage. If a woman is known to herself and her country as "Beauvoir", that's enough for me.

...the Marquis de Sade is "Sade", Alexis de Tocqueville is "Tocqueville".

Fine, fine, I hear you say. But what about de Gaulle? Isn't he always de Gaulle? Yes he is. Because his "de" is Flemish. Different language, different rules.

For example, William of Ockham's shaving implement is not called "of Ockham's razor" and Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are not called the "of Sussexes".

The names of other French figures follow the same convention in English: Michel de Montaigne is "Montaigne"...

So why "Beauvoir" and not "de Beauvoir"?

Because this "de" is a nobiliary particle, and these particles are omitted when referring to someone by locative surname only. In English we use these rarely, but we do use them, and in certain circumstances we drop the particle too.

After publishing Becoming Beauvoir several people asked why I dropped the particle when referring to her by surname. One reviewer even surmised that it was a feminist statement, so that Beauvoir – unlike the women in Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale – was not "of" anyone or anywhere but herself.

Liam has reminded me of something I've been meaning to do for a while:

Why "Beauvoir" and not "de Beauvoir"?

A thread 🧵

The Political Dimension in Hegel's Aesthetics

For London philosophy folks: a workshop on 'The Political Dimensions of Hegel's Aesthetics' (1 May, Senate House)
#philtwit #philsky
www.sas.ac.uk/news-events/...

Picture of the cover of my book No Place Like Home with a voucher for 30% off. The Voucher number is AUFLY30 to use at global.oup.com/academic

OUP tells me I should share this. And publicise my book. So here it goes. Please read my book. It has a pretty cover. It's cheap (for an academic book) and you can have this discount! Also please review it, somewhere fancy if possible!

Double thanks!

I've created a list for Bluesky users who were part of philosophy Twitter back in the day. Help me populate it! Also happy to add people who wish they had been part of the old community. I've added a few names already. (Ask if you'd like to be removed.) bsky.app/profile/did:...

👋 I was there and would like to be here too please.

I walked out wanting to walk back in. Glad it’ll be in Edinburgh so you can see it!

www.gallimard.fr/catalogue/un...

Book cover of Simone de Beauvoir, Une fois que les femmes ont ouvert les yeux. Écrits et paroles féministes, 1947–1985

Parution aujourd'hui :

Écrits et paroles féministes de Simone de Beauvoir

Gwen John: Strange Beauties | Museum Wales Notice: Upcoming Early C...

museum.wales/cardiff/what...

Went to the Gwen John exhibition at the National Museum in Cardiff yesterday and it was wonderful

😂

L’édition Pléiade du Deuxième Sexe est sortie aujourd’hui !