“There is no age for a philosopher”: the secrets of Charlotte Casiraghi, president of the Monaco Philosophical Meetings
War, anger, love, gender, dreams, justice… on all fronts of thought, the Monaco Philosophical Meetings will return on October 13 with a variety of themes but a unity of locations.
The idea of a single theme for the season has been eclipsed in favor of a central question, each month, debated in public. And the Meetings are settling in at the Princess Grace theater to increase the loyalty of their audience.
For seven years, the formula has found its audience. A bet that the president and founder of the Philosophical Meetings, Charlotte Casiraghi, is proud to have accomplished. Interview.
The workshops of the Philosophical Meetings used to take over various places in the Principality. Why settle now at the Princess Grace theater?
It seemed important to us to create a regular meeting, in the same space, to retain our audience. The more workshops you attend, the more links can be created between the different themes that allow progress in philosophical reflection. Gradually, we sharpen our thinking.
This season, is there no more thematic thread for all the meetings?
We have chosen themes that reflect major intimate, political or social concerns, but we needed this freedom to be able to offer subjects that were not requested in the same theme but unavoidable at the moment. It is important to be as close as possible to current concerns.
“There is something in the meeting, in the presence of really important”
The intense news of recent months means that a theme chosen in September for the season, risks no longer being at the heart of the news the following spring…
A philosophical questioning is always current but it is true that the idea is to propose a diversity in the subjects which makes it possible to touch several concerns. To confine oneself to a theme was perhaps to cut oneself off from part of the public and enter into a more academic approach. There, it is more eclectic.
This audience precisely, you have learned to identify it. Who are your devotees?
It’s quite incredible to see how there is no age for a philosopher, no particular stereotype. We welcome both high school students and retirees. There is no archetype and that’s what’s interesting, to reach different people.
The fact of exchanging, of being together in the same place seems essential? The workshops do not lend themselves to digital format?
Even if there are thousands of philosophy podcasts and we rebroadcast all the workshops on our site, there is something really important in the meeting, in the presence. Being several in a room listening to someone speak and then reacting means that we enter sensitivity in a different way. Just as a charismatic philosophy teacher will make a huge difference in a student’s life. There is the texture of the voice, the gestures, the carnal incarnation of a thought. Sometimes it’s very mysterious how touched you can be by the way someone will express themselves. There is a very important transmission in the presence. And then at the Princess Grace theater, we feel enveloped, there is something very reassuring. In addition, the warm foyer of the theater lends itself after the workshop to discussion. These little moments of exchange are very precious.
“Internationally, the name of Monaco is associated with philosophy”
Has confinement brought a new public to philosophical reflection?
The pandemic has forced us to tell ourselves that there is an urgency to dialogue about what is happening to us. We had then improvised a theme on confinement and we had a lot of people, who were not supplying before the Meetings, but who needed to reflect on the urgency of the situation. We also realized that we needed more freedom to react to the current situation. For example, in October we will open with the theme of war. It seems to me absolutely essential to offer this time for reflection around this major question which is coming up in the news and which concerns us.
In planning the Philosophical Meetings seven years ago, you are faced with a major challenge. To see that the public has responded and is responding, is it a satisfaction?
It took time to establish the Rencontres in the cultural landscape. After seven years, their existence is ingrained in people’s heads. Internationally, the name of Monaco is associated with philosophy. All important thinkers or philosophers in France know that Monaco is a place where there are important discussions, a symposium, publications, promotion of philosophy. It was a difficult bet at the start. Associating Monaco with philosophy may not seem obvious, in the end we managed to do it. Gradually, we are reaching a wider audience, because we are moving towards more concrete concerns, freer formats, more current themes. It is important to be able to meet this demand.
When will there be a more international opening, by inviting philosophers other than French speakers?
We really want to work to further internationalize the Meetings. There was this first time when you had to retain a local audience, create something solid and then be in a more ambitious expansion. He had already to succeed in this first bet. But yes, over time we are thinking of opening up these discussions even more to more international thinkers.