Marion Kim-Chi POLLAERT
![](https://umr8230.cnrs.fr/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MP-150x150.jpeg)
Areas of specialization: Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy, Greek political thought in contemporary
philosophy
Areas of competence: Metaphysics, political philosophy, moral philosophy, social philosophy,
Phenomenology, philosophy of education, philosophy of sport
Education
2023: Qualification for the position of associate professor (qualification aux fonction de maître.sse de conférence) by the French National Council of Universities (C.N.U.) in the Section 17 (Philosophy)
June 2022: Ph.D. – Philosophy, École normale supérieure, Paris
Dissertation topic: “Connaissance et action dans la République de Platon: démiurgie politique et fonctions des Formes intelligibles” (Knowledge and Action in Plato’s Republic: political demiurgy and the functions of the intelligible Forms)
Advisor: Prof. Dimitri El Murr
Dissertation Committee: Prof. Melissa Lane (Princeton), Prof. Voula Tsouna (University of California), Prof. Thomas Bénatouïl (Université de Lille), Prof. Sylvain Delcomminette (Université libre de Bruxelles), Prof. Arnaud Macé (Université de Franche-Comté)
2016: Agrégation de philosophie, the French most selective comprehensive national examination in philosophy, rank: 15
2013-2015: Master of Arts (honors) – History of Philosophy, University Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris – Advisor: Prof. Laurent Lavaud
2013: Bachelor of Arts (honors) – Philosophy, University Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, Paris
2012: Success in entrance examinations for École normale supérieure, Paris
2010-2012: University-level Preparation Courses (Classes préparatoires) for entrance to Grandes Écoles at Lycée Henri IV, Paris
Academic appointments, fellowships and awards
2023-present: Post-doctoral Fellow at NOVA Institute of Philosophy (IFILNOVA), Lisbon
2022-2023: Visiting Associate Professor (Attachée temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche) at Nantes Université
2022-present: Jury member for the entrance examination at the Ecole normale supérieure
2020-2022: Temporary teaching and research associate (Attachée temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche) at Université de Lille
2019: Visiting Fellow at Brown University (Providence, RI) – spring term
2017-2020: Part-time Lecturer at Ecole normale supérieure and Paris Sciences Lettres University
2017-2020: Junior Lecturer and Researcher (three-year position) at Ecole normale supérieure
2016-2017: Lecturer at Peking University (Beijing, China)
2012-2017: Four-year state scholarship for graduate studies at the Ecole normale supérieure, Paris
2010: 3rd Prize at the Concours Général, composition de philosophie (Nationwide competition of excellence, philosophy essay)
2010: 3rd Prize at the Concours Européen de Grec Ancien (European competition in
Ancient Greek: translation and commentary)
RESEARCH
Conferences and workshops
As speaker
2023: “Democratic strategic litigation and defence of LGBTI+ rights”, with B. Moron-Puech
International Conference « Democracies in Flux », Campus Condorcet (Paris region)
2022: “The different divisions of the techniques (Sophist, Statesman and Philebus) and the normative power of Platonic dialectic” (Fr.)
Conference at the Ecole normale supérieure and Université-Paris 1 on the method of division by Plato and Aristotle
2022: “The Republic et the Timaeus’ prologue” (Fr.)
Workshop at the Ecole normale supérieure on Intertextuality in Plato
2022: “Is Plato’s Republic totalitarian?” (Fr.)
Key-conference at the Université Panthéon-Assas (law faculty): series of lectures on law and philosophy
2021: “Political Demiurgy by Plato: Republic’s philosopher-ruler and Gorgias’ craftworker”
“Démiurgie politique chez Platon : philosophe-roi de la République et artisan du Gorgias”
Graduate research workshop, Université de Lille (January 5)
2021: “Plato against Bourdieu? Scholarly discourse and social othering by J. Rancière”
“Platon contre Bourdieu ? Discours savant et altérité sociale chez J. Rancière”
Research workshop on ancient thought in contemporary social philosophy, Université de Franche-Comté (February 10-11, refereed paper)
2020: “Elaborating purpose through the art of ruling in Plato’s Statesman: from the demiurgic model to the “self-directing expertise”
“Plato’s trilogy: Theaeteus, Sophist, and Statesman”, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris (March 27, cancelled due to Covid-19)
2019: “‘Seeing in the dark’ (520c3): How does exactly political action hinge on philosophical knowledge in Republic V-VII?”
Paris-Lille-Cambridge. Graduate research workshop in ancient philosophy, Université de Lille (October 18-19)
2018: “Parts of the body, and plants (73b–77c)”
International conference, “Plato’s Timaeus: Human Soul, Bodies & Qualities”, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris (May 31-June 2)
As respondent
2019: “Structural deficiency or Platonic pedagogy? The paradeigma of the angler in Plato’s Sophist” (comments on Anna Pavani)
International conference, “Being, Not-Being, and Method in Plato’s Sophist”, organized by M.L. Gill at Brown University, Providence, RI (May 17-19)
Seminars and reading groups
2022: “Theaetetus 206c-208c: logos” (Fr.)
Theaetetus reading group, University of Lille (April 28)
2021: “Theaetetus 187a-189c: true opinion and detour by the false” (Fr.)
Theaetetus reading group, University of Lille (February 18)
2020: “Meno 86c4-87e3: Acquiring knowledge and the method of hypothesis” (Fr.)
Translation project for forthcoming publication, Ecole normale supérieure (May 27)
2020: “Sophist 262e3-265b11: False statement, judgment, appearance, and the sophist”
Ancient philosophy reading group, Brown University, RI (May 6)
2020: “Sophist 252d1-254b6: Dialectic and the Philosopher”
Ancient philosophy reading group, Brown University, RI (March 18)
2020: “Painters of the constitutions and philosopher-rulers: Knowing the Good and ruling the city (Rep. V-VII)” (Fr.)
Ancient philosophy graduate research seminar, Ecole normale supérieure, Paris (January 9)
2019: “Dual purpose of the Republic curriculum? Search for the truth and city affairs in the guardians’ education” (Fr.)
Paris Ancient Philosophy graduate research seminar, Université Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV (January 11)
2018: “Aristophanes’ speech in Plato’s Symposium” (Fr.)
Seminar on the Lysis and the Symposium, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (March 13)
2015: “Damascius’ Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles” (Fr.)
Doctoral seminar in Ancient Philosophy at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (April 10)
Organization of conferences and seminars
International conferences
2020: “Plato’s trilogy: Theaeteus, Sophist, and Statesman”, Ecole normale supérieure, co-organized with Prof. Dimitri El Murr (March 26-27, cancelled due to Covid-19)
2018: “Plato’s Timaeus: Human Soul, Bodies & Qualities”, Ecole normale supérieure, co-organized with Prof. Dimitri El Murr (May 31-June 2)
Conference
2022: “Diairesis. The Method of Division by Plato and Aristotle”, Ecole normale supérieure & Université Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, co-organized with Ulysse Chaintreuil
Seminar
2017-2018: Seminar on Plato’s Lysis and Symposium, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, co-organized with Prof. Dimitri El Murr (2 semesters)
Teaching
As Instructor of Record
2022-present: Visiting associate professor (Attachée temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche) at Université de Nantes
-Graduate classes to prepare for the agrégation in philosophy (the French most
selective comprehensive national examination in philosophy):
Cicero
§ The body
Plotinus, the 38th treatise (translation and commentary)
General philosophy
-Undergraduate class:
Plato: Knowledge and Action
2020-2022: Teaching and research assistant (Attachée temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche) at Université de Lille
-Philosophy Department: undergraduate classes in general philosophy, ancient
philosophy and ancient greek text (translation and commentary) for philosophy, philosophy-sociology and humanities.
For instance:
Plato, The Phaedo
Plato, The Republic
General philosophy
– Philosophy Department, graduate classes in general philosophy
-Classics Department: ancient philosophy undergraduate class:
Rhetoric and philosophy
2019-2020: Graduate classes to prepare for the agrégation in philosophy
-Undergraduate classes in Ancient philosophy at the Ecole normale supérieure, Paris
2017-2020: Undergraduate classes in Ancient philosophy at PSL University, Paris:
Theory and practice in Ancient philosophy
What is thinking?
Freedom and death
2017-2018: Research supervisor for Undergraduate Students at PSL University, Paris
Supervision of undergraduate students for the annual transdisciplinary research paper:
Philosophy and cinema: “Memory and identity. Documentary cinema as an act of memory reconstruction of oppressed identities”
Philosophy and History: “The cinematographic image and the culture crisis” (mostly on W. Benjamin but also contemporary photographers)
2016-2017: Undergraduate and graduate French classes at Peking University (Beijing, China):
Culture, literature, press and language, including an introduction in French Philosophy
As Tutor/Supervisor
2012-2013: Voluntary tutoring at Lycée Lamartine (Paris) en Classes préparatoires littéraires, “PESU” program (non profit school equality program)
Outreach
Formal lectures
2021: “The knowledge of free people” (Fr.), interview de T. Bénatouïl
Festival « Citéphilo », Lille (november 8)
https://citephilo.org/intervenants/marion-pollaert/
2020: “Knowledge and action in Plato’s Dialogues” (Fr.)
Conférence des Lettres: key lecture for University-level Preparation Course for Entrance to “Grandes Écoles”, Lycée Louis Barthou, Pau (January 20)
2019: “Why a multiplicity of loves in Plato’s Symposium?” (Fr.), Public lecture series by the
Collège international de philosophie and the Cité des sciences et de l’industrie, Paris (January 19)
Interactive workshops
2018: Association Journées Découvrir l’Antiquité (J.D.A.), inviting middle and highschool students to discover the Antiquity at the ENS, Paris
– “Plato’s Symposium” (March)
– “The notion of ‘Barbarian’ from Antiquity to the present” (May)
Broadcasts
2022: “A la croisée des jeux”, podcast produced by the Olympic Museum of Lausanne
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4HSp8KBIeejJjxIyRiWIZ0?si=242df796b89c44b3&nd=1
2018: “L’inéducation sentimentale”, Radio Campus, Paris (November 15)
https://www.radiocampusparis.org/lineducation-sentimentale-comment-va-lamour/
PUBLICATIONS
Papers
Single-authored
2023: “Sovereignty of reason or authoritarianism? Popper’s and Arendt’s criticisms of Plato’s Republic”
(Commandement de la raison ou totalitarisme ? La République de Platon face aux critiques de Popper et Arendt) in C. Giolito (dir.), La Politique, Lambert-Lucas, forthcoming (Fr.)
2023: “Plato against Bourdieu? Scholarly speech and social othering by J. Rancière”
(Platon contre Bourdieu ? Discours savant et altérité sociale chez J. Rancière), Philosophique, directed by L. Mariat & C. Santoro, “Au détour de la cité. Philosophie sociale contemporaine en dialogue avec l’Antiquité”, Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, forthcoming (Fr.)
2022: “Physical explanation, myth and intelligible Forms’ causation: criticizing Aristotle’s criticism of Platonic physics”
(Explication physique, mythe et causalité des Formes platoniciennes. Une lecture critique de la critique aristotélicienne de la physique de Platon), Mosaïque, 18, “La physique”, M. Bastide De Sousa, C. Sadaillan, V. Mériaux (dir.)
2015: “Essential beyond’ and ‘fondamental below’: ἀρχή transcending ontology by Plotin and Maldiney”
(« Au-delà de l’être » et « en deçà fondamental » : la transcendance de l’ἀρχή dans son rapport à l’ontologie chez Plotin et Maldiney ), L’Ouvert n°8, Paris, 2015, 88-105 (Fr.)
Co-authored
2021: A. Ghersen, J.-B. Duez & M. Pollaert, “Solo climbing: a descriptive and normative approach”, in C. Pereira Martins (ed.), On Sports, IEF-FD, 53-76.
Encyclopedia entry
2023: “Damascius. Traité des premiers principes”, in Encyclopédie des OEuvres philosophiques, directed by E. Ballanfat, A. Benoit, C. Nouët et J.-F. Suratteau (under contract with Ellipses editions, forthcoming publication)
Editing work
2016: Leçons sur Aristote de Jacques Brunschwig, Editions Ellipses
Book reviews
2023: “S. BROADIE: Plato’s Sun-Like Good: Dialectic in the Republic”, Philosophie antique n° 23, Vrin, forthcoming
2023: “Sylvain DELCOMMINETTE et Raphaël VAN DAELE (ed.) : La méthode de division de Platon à Érigène”, Philosophie antique n° 23, Vrin, forthcoming
2021: “Marie-Noëlle RIBAS : La Querelle de l’expérience. Aristote, Platon, Isocrate”, Philosophie antique n° 21, Vrin
URL : https://journals.openedition.org/philosant/4233
2015: “Henri MALDINEY: L’Art l’éclair de l’être”, Actu-philosophia (electronic review)
URL : http://www.actu-philosophia.com/Henri-Maldiney-l-Art-eclair-de-l-Etre-587
2013: “Henri MALDINEY : Aîtres de la langue et demeures de la pensée”, Actu-philosophia (electronic review)
URL : http://www.actu-philosophia.com/Henri-Maldiney-Aitres-de-la-langue-etdemeures-de/
Work in progress
• Publication of the dissertation
• « Statesmanship as craftsmanship (Republic 500c-501c): a political demiurgy? »
• “The normativity of Platonic dialectical divisions: dividing the techniques in the Sophist, the
Statesman and the Philebus”
Not based on the dissertation
• Sensitivity in Plato (invited chapter for a collective publication on sensivity by Atlande)
• Ancient Greek philosophy and phenomenology by Henri Maldiney (invited contribution,
Revue de philosophie ancienne)
• Equality against competence: Rancière’s critique of Plato and Bourdieu
• Epistemic injustice in Plato’s Republic: Dotson’s reading of Plato’s cave allegory