Advocate of risk drowns saving children
French philosopher Anne Dufourmantelle was swept out to sea on the Riviera during a rescue attempt
A PROMINENT French philosopher, psychoanalyst and newspaper columnist, best known for her work on risktaking, has drowned after trying to save two children who were in trouble in the sea at a beach near Saint-tropez. Anne Dufourmantelle was apparently swept away by a current at the weekend when she intervened to help the children at Pampelonne beach on the French Riviera.
Attempts to resuscitate her failed after she was recovered. The children, one of whom was believed to be the 10-year-old son of a friend of Ms Dufourmantelle, were brought by lifeguards to safety and were unharmed.
The red flag, which signals danger and means people should not swim, was flying at the beach at the time of the rescue attempt, according to local media reports, which said strong winds made conditions worsen.
French culture minister Françoise Nyssen paid tribute to Ms Dufourmantelle in a tweet, saying the 53-year-old was “a great philosopher, a psychoanalyst, she helped us to live, to think about today’s world.”
Raphaël Enthoven, another prominent French philosopher, tweeted that he was “saddened and stunned” to learn of the death Ms Dufourmantelle, “who spoke so well of dreams”.
Ms Dufourmantelle was the daughter of an Anglo-swiss father and a French mother, taught at universities in France and the US, and had lived for several years in Latin America. She was the author of numerous essays and books, in many of which she argued that exposure to threats and risks was an unavoidable and even necessary part of life. Her first published book was co-written by the late Jacques Derrida, who is seen by many as one of the greatest contemporary philosophers.
One of her best-known works was In Praise of Risk, which was published in 2011. In a 2015 interview with newspaper Libération, for which she later wrote columns, she said that “the idea of absolute security – like ‘zero risk’ – is a fantasy”.
In the face of “real danger that must be faced in order to survive, there is a strong incentive for action, dedication, and surpassing oneself”, she told the paper. “Being alive is a risk. Life is a metamorphosis and it begins with this risk. It is said, ‘to risk one’s life’, but perhaps one should say, ‘to risk life’, (since) being alive is a risk.”
The interview was carried out at a time when a wave of terror attacks had begun in France, and a huge influx of migrants into Europe was under way.
“The terrorist threat has always also been a political weapon to curtail liberties,” she said.
Her funeral will be held in Ramatuelle, southern France, today.