1001Philosophers

Pierre Klossowski 1905 – 2001

Pierre Klossowski (1905 – 2001) was a French philosopher of the Contemporary era, associated with Continental Philosophy and Post-Structuralism.

Pierre Klossowski was a French philosopher, novelist, translator, and visual artist, the elder brother of the painter Balthus, and one of the strangest figures of mid-twentieth-century French thought. His Nietzsche and the Vicious Circle developed a singular reading of the eternal return as a doctrine of the simulacrum and of the dissolution of the unity of the self, while his Sade My Neighbor read the Marquis de Sade as a thinker of perversion and atheology rather than as a mere libertine. Around the journal Acephale and his friendship with Bataille, Blanchot, and Foucault, he made fantasy, parody, and theological imagination instruments of philosophical inquiry.

Key facts

Nationality
French
Era
Contemporary
Movements
Continental Philosophy, Post-Structuralism

Selected quotes

  • Attributed to Pierre Klossowski:

    “The eternal return is not a doctrine; it is a sign that ruins every doctrine.”

  • Attributed to Pierre Klossowski:

    “The self is not a substance but a fluctuating intensity among other intensities.”

  • Attributed to Pierre Klossowski:

    “To live is to bear the simulacra that traverse us.”

  • Attributed to Pierre Klossowski:

    “Sade is not the celebrant of vice; he is its theologian.”

  • Attributed to Pierre Klossowski:

    “Solitude is the medium in which the soul exchanges itself for its phantasms.”

Frequently asked about Pierre Klossowski

When did Pierre Klossowski live?
Pierre Klossowski was born in 1905 and died in 2001.
Where was Pierre Klossowski from?
Pierre Klossowski was a French philosopher of the Contemporary era.
What philosophical movements is Pierre Klossowski associated with?
Pierre Klossowski was associated with Continental Philosophy and Post-Structuralism.
What was Pierre Klossowski known for?
Pierre Klossowski was a French philosopher, novelist, translator, and visual artist, the elder brother of the painter Balthus, and one of the strangest figures of mid-twentieth-century French thought.
How many quotes are attributed to Pierre Klossowski?
There are 5 attributed quotations from Pierre Klossowski in the 1001Philosophers collection, organized by topic.