Comment by JProthero | Hacker News Reader

Comment by JProthero | Hacker News Reader

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> The main contributions in rationalism and empiricism are not French.

Are you certain of this? I can think of many contributions to rationalism and empiricism made by French speakers that I feel are important. The metric system, for instance, was in large part a French project [01].

Here are a few French rationalists and empiricists that came to my mind when I read your comment:

Alain Aspect

Contemporary exerimentalist known for work in quantum optics [02]

Louis de Broglie

Quantum physicist known for pioneering wave-particle duality [03]

Nicolas de Condorcet

Mathematician and leading figure of the enlightenment [04]

Rene Descartes

Philosopher and mathematician known for the Cartesian co-ordinate system [05]

Pierre de Fermat

Mathematician known for his eponymous last theorem [06]

Joseph-Louis Lagrange

Mathematician and astronomer known for Lagrangian mechanics and Lagrange points in astronomy [07]

Pierre-Simon Laplace

Polymath known for Laplace's Demon, among much else [08]

Antoine Lavoisier

Experimental chemist who named hydrogen and oxygen [09]

Blaise Pascal

Mathematician and inventor of an early mechanical calculator [10]

Louis Pasteur

Chemist and microbiologist who developed the germ theory of disease and invented Pasteurisation [11]

Henri Poincare

Mathematician, theoretical physicist and engineer [12]

Urbain le Verrier

Astronomer, discoverer of Neptune [13]

Full disclosure: I'm English.

[01] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_metric_system#T...

[02] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Aspect

[03] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Broglie

[04]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Condorcet

[05] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes

[06] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Fermat

[07] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-Louis_Lagrange

[08] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Simon_Laplace

[09] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

[11]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9

[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbain_Le_Verrier

"The main contribution in rationalism and empiricism are not French" does not equal "French speakers did not contribute relevant knowledge in rationalism or empiricism"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism

Hindu and Greek philosophers, Islamic golden age, Italian renaissance, British empiricism, Scottish Enlightenment, Austrian/German empiricism, US Pragmatism, ...

I'm not trying to neglect French rationalists and empiricists. Of course they exist, ... together with the many other scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, ... from many other cultures. Each single culture contributed less than the sum of the others simply because rationalism and empiricism are the fruits of global knowledge.

When detailing reasons for pushing the adoption of French in Europe, Macron acknowledged the work of Victor Hugo, who "believed that French would be the language of Europe, would today perhaps be a little disappointed" and promoted the re-examination of past colonialism in Africa, seeking to use the language as a tool to "reset a complex history in the continent".

The reasons for pretending the use of French in Europe are nationalistic. In an incident, European diplomats defined "overly dramatic, a statement of anger that clearly need no translation" when a French diplomat left his chair empty after the Council decided to use only-English in a working group.

This development was foreseen in 2017 (pre-Brexit) when Mario Monti said "The EU, when the UK leaves, should take the decision of upgrading the use of the English language in EU affairs. I think we should upgrade the ways we use English and it should become the language of the EU. I exaggerate a bit - there should be a bit of French. It will be a very appropriate gesture to the UK. It would help us Europeans to become more competitive by using fewer languages."

The statements of Mario Monti was pragmatic, it defines an issue and propose a solution. The behaviour of French diplomats is stubborn and nationalistic.

Disclosing too that I'm Italian.

I wouldn't dispute much of what you wrote above, but I do think the French contribution to empiricism and rationalism qualifies as major (difficult as these things are to measure), and that that contribution is at least similar to the other large European nations.

I understand there is a common perception that French academic culture has literary preoccupations, but I don't think the idea that those preoccupations have disadvantaged French science holds up to much scrutiny, much as one might want it to after listening to a fruitless monologue about Derrida.

It's heartening to me that there are people in the EU arguing in favour of pragmatic gestures of friendship to the UK as you point out; I'm all for it and hope it is continued and mutual, regardless of whether the UK is legally part of the organisation.

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