Serge Audier

Serge Audier is a French philosopher who teaches at the Côte d'Azur University in Nice. He is most notable for his writing on political and ideological conflicts as well as the philosophy of ecology. He is considered a leading authority on the history of liberalism in France.Steinmetz-Jenkins, D., & Brookes, K. (2018). The Many Liberalisms of Serge Audier. Journal of the History of Ideas, 79(1), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.1353/jhi.2018.0002

Education He studied at the Lycée Henri IV in the fifth arrondissement of Paris. He won first prize in French composition in the Concours général in 1987Results of the Concours général. LeMonde.fr, 11 June 1987. Archived on 24 March 2022 from the original. and first prize in philosophy in the Concours général in 1988. The next phase of his career was at the École normale supérieure, class of 1990, where he obtained the in 1994."Agrégations (par ordre alphabétique)," on lemonde.fr, 28 July 1994. Archived from the original on 9 April 2021. He became a Doctor of Philosophy in 2000 with a thesis that won the Raymond-Aron prize in 2001.

Under the direction of Robert Legros, he defended his thesis in December 2000. The thesis was titled, "Machiavel, Tocqueville, Marx dans la pensée politique française de l’entre-deux-guerres," and the doctorate was granted by the University of Caen.

Career A former resident of the Thiers Foundation and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), he was a lecturer in the philosophy department at Paris-Sorbonne University for many years (2003–2023). Since 2023, he has been a professor at the Côte d'Azur University in Nice.

Research Audier’s work is characterized by a genealogical approach to political ideas. He studies how internally diverse traditions such as republicanism, socialism, liberalism, and neoliberalism became reduced to simplified and apparently coherent narratives.Chabal, Emile. "The Mid-Life Crisis of Neo-Liberalism." . 4 July 2012. Archived, 28 March 2026. Accessed 9 July 2026. His research examines which interpretations came to dominate, which alternatives were obscured or forgotten, and how these lost lines of thought may be recovered.Audier, Serge. La Société écologique et ses ennemies. Pour une histoire alternative de l’émancipation; La Découverte: Paris, 2017.

Audier later applied this approach to the history of political ecology. In La Société écologique et ses ennemis and L’Âge productiviste, he traces the emergence of productivism as a dominant political narrative while recovering ideas that were marginalized by those dominant partisan agendas. His theory about why movements on the political Left in particular have failed to adequately address climate change is due to what he calls "the cult of productivism," that is the drive toward production that began with the Industrial Revolution but never ceased: contradictory drives to produce more, even at the climate's expense, because of political and economic drives to produce not just what is economically profitable but what provides resources and the imperatives of electoral politics.Escalona, Fabien. Mediapart. 30 March 2021. Archived, 14 January 2025. Accessed 9 July 2026.Suárez Müller, Fernando. 2023. "Gaia and Religious Pluralism in Bruno Latour’s ‘New-Materialism’," Religions 14 (8): 960.

Awards One of his best known works, La Cité écologique : pour un éco-républicanisme, won the Essay Prize awarded by Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco (also known as PhiloMonaco) in 2021.

His 2019 book, L'Âge productiviste: hégémonie prométhéenne, brèches et alternatives écologiques, won the Prix Paul Ricœur.

His 2017 book, La société écologique et ses ennemis. Pour une histoire alternative de l’émancipation, won the in that year.

Publications Books Les Théories de la République, Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Repères », 2004, 119p. (ISBN 2707139092); revised and expanded edition, 2014, 125p. . Raymond Aron : la démocratie conflictuelle, Paris, Michalon, coll. « Le bien commun », 2004, 123p. Tocqueville retrouvé : genèse et enjeux du renouveau tocquevillien français (adapted from the author's doctoral thesis), Paris, chez Vrin / Éditions de l'EHESS, coll. « Contextes », 2004, 319p. . Machiavel, conflit et liberté, Paris, Librairie philosophique J. Vrin / Éditions de l'EHESS, coll. « Contextes », 2005, 313p. . Le Socialisme libéral, Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Repères : sciences politiques, droit », 2006, 121p.; revised and expanded edition, 2014, 125p. Léon Bourgeois : fonder la solidarité, Paris, Michalon, coll. « Le bien commun », 2007, 125p. La Pensée anti-68 : essai sur une restauration intellectuelle, Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Cahiers libres », 2008, 379p. Le Colloque Lippmann : aux origines du néo-libéralisme, Lormont, Le Bord de l'eau, coll. « Les voies du politique », 2008, 354p. ; revised and expanded edition, preceded by "Penser le 'néo-libéralisme'", 2012, 495p. La Pensée solidariste. Aux sources du modèle social républicain, Paris, PUF, 2010, 340p. Néo-libéralisme(s) : une archéologie intellectuelle, Paris, Grasset, coll. « Mondes vécus », 2012, 628p. Penser le néolibéralisme : le moment néolibéral, Foucault et la crise du socialisme, Lormont, Le Bord de l'eau, coll. « Documents », 2015, 563p. with Jurgen Reinhoudt, The Walter Lippmann Colloquium: The Birth of Neo-Liberalism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 212p. . La Société écologique et ses ennemis : pour une histoire alternative de l'émancipation, Paris, La Découverte, 2017, 742p. — Winner of the Prix de la Fondation de l'écologie politique (2017). . L'Âge productiviste : hégémonie prométhéenne, brèches et alternatives écologiques, Paris, La Découverte, 2019, 967p. — Winner of the (2019) La Cité écologique : pour un éco-républicanisme, Paris, La Découverte, 2020, 752p. — Winner of the Prix de l'Essai des Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco (2021) L'Invention du néolibéralisme : histoire, concepts, controverses, vol. 1: Devant la crise du libéralisme : du colloque Lippmann à la société du Mont Pèlerin, Lormont, BDL Editions, 2022, 514p. . L'Invention du néolibéralisme : histoire, concepts, controverses, vol. 2: Quel néolibéralisme ? : les "Pélerins" en quête d'hégémonie, Lormont, BDL Editions, 2023, 524p. .

Periodicals Qu'est-ce que la philosophie ?, Monaco, Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco, 2023, 75 p. "Néolibéralisme, inégalités et enjeux écologiques." Cités 89, no. 1 (2022): 27-49. "Les paradigmes du «Néolibéralisme»." Cahiers philosophiques 133, no. 2 (2013): 21-40. "La gauche réformiste et le libéralisme." L'Économie politique 40, no. 4 (2008): 83-100. "Tocqueville et la tradition républicaine." Cahiers de Philosophie de l’université de Caen 44 (2007): 171-245. "Tocqueville, notre contemporain?." Études 404, no. 4 (2006): 487-496.

See also Niccolò Machiavelli Alexis de Tocqueville Léon Bourgeois Karl Marx Raymond Aron Jacques Rancière Liberalism and radicalism in France

Further reading Adair-Toteff, Christopher. 2024. “Raymond Aron’s Concept of Liberty.” History of European Ideas 50 (8): 1433–44. doi:10.1080/01916599.2024.2349866. Chabal, Emile. "The Mid-Life Crisis of Neo-Liberalism." . 4 July 2012. Archived, 28 March 2026. Accessed 9 July 2026. Chappel, James. 2017. “Locating French Liberalism.” Politics, Religion & Ideology 18 (3): 339–41. doi:10.1080/21567689.2017.1347237. Cole, Daniel H., Aurelian Craiutu, and Michael D. McGinnis. 2024. “Embracing Liberalism’s Complexity.” Critical Review 36 (3): 352–92. doi:10.1080/08913811.2024.2410613. Drochon, Hugo H. 2017. “Democracy, Anti-Totalitarianism and Liberalism.” Politics, Religion & Ideology 18 (3): 333–36. doi:10.1080/21567689.2017.1347235. Escalona, Fabien. Mediapart. 30 March 2021. Archived, 14 January 2025. Accessed 9 July 2026. Gane, Mike. "The new Foucault effect." Cultural Politics 14, no. 1 (2018): 109-127. Rosenblatt, Helena. 2017. “What Is Liberalism?” Politics, Religion & Ideology 18 (3): 331–33. doi:10.1080/21567689.2017.1347234. Seri, Guillermina, and David Siegel. 2025. “Between Marx and Foucault: Blending Critical Epistemologies in the Study of Neoliberalism.” Critical Review 37 (2–3): 271–303. doi:10.1080/08913811.2025.2575577.

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References

External links Serge Audier on the PhiloMonaco website Short talk Philosopher Robert Maggiori, 14 November 2020, talking about Audier's book La cité écologique Serge Audier IUF (Institut Universitaire de France) profile Interview with Serge Audier in 2021 following his achievement of the 2021 Prix d'Essai from PhiloMonaco Fragile Knowledge, Moral Pitfalls: Early Neoliberalism and Its Demise Article by Martin Beddeleem from KNOW: A Journal on the Formation of Knowledge, Vol.4, n.2 A Lesson from Serge Audier // The Birth and Evolution of Political Ecology a lecture by Serge Audier, live-streamed from Monaco on 7 June 2022