Inutile.jean-francois Revel.pdf | La Connaissance

: Revel critiques the modern obsession with utility and efficiency, suggesting that this perspective devalues the arts, humanities, and speculative sciences. He argues that this viewpoint is symptomatic of a larger societal issue where the value of knowledge is measured by its immediate applicability.

Long before the term "infodemic," Revel isolated the difference between data and wisdom. He argues that the proliferation of media creates an illusion of competence. We watch the news, so we think we understand geopolitics. We read a summary, so we think we have read the book. This shortcut, Revel warns, turns knowledge into a decorative object rather than a tool for action. La connaissance inutile.Jean-Francois Revel.pdf

If you found this analysis helpful, ensure your copy of the PDF is complete (look for the Gallimard/Tel imprint edition) and consider donating to digital archives like the Internet Archive to preserve Revel’s work for the next generation of "useless" thinkers. : Revel critiques the modern obsession with utility

The search for this PDF is an act of hope. It suggests that despite the noise, despite the ideological blindness, there remains a reader willing to sit with a difficult French philosopher from the 1980s to ask the essential question: Why do we know so much and understand so little? He argues that the proliferation of media creates

At first glance, the title La Connaissance Inutile (Useless Knowledge) seems counterintuitive. Revel was an intellectual, a man of letters who dedicated his life to the pursuit of truth. Why would he declare knowledge to be useless?

Below is a general outline of the book's main themes and arguments: