: When Pop Philosophy Pops Up (a History)

« La théorie est morte ! vive la théorie ! » When « pop philosophy » pops up. What has become of French Theory ? Did the French thought disappear at the same time as Derrida, Foucault, Lyotard, Ricoeur and so many other great names of French philosophy? Some might think there is now a devastated landscape that only shows some scattered oasis of thought in France, but hopefully it is not the case. Like in the popular movie Mad Max, when the authority collapses, then you can start to set your own rules: this seems to be happening to contemporary French philosophy, that is now turning « popular ». Post-lacanians like Slavoj Žižek showed the way, but the artistic scene in France took hold of it. It started as a kind of pun on refreshing philosophy but the « Fresh theorists » (authors of Fresh théorie) try to liberate and shake the old uses of aesthetic theory in France. Is it just a trendy phenomena, or is it worth taking a second look at it? It may be interesting to analyse how the new generation of French thinkers tries to rejuvenate Deleuze's impure philosophy (Pourparlers, Minuit, 1990) and confronts it with contemporary or popular aesthetic productions. For this paper, we will focus on the strong relationships between French thought and contemporary arts, especially stressing on how a dialogue between philosophy and art productions appears to be a central preoccupation for both artists and thinkers. Presenting some examples of these dialogues (Tatiana Trouvé and Richard Shusterman, for instance), we will try to outline a new landscape of aesthetic theory in France and also discuss its legitimacy