A Homage to Jean-Jacques Salomon

The philosopher and historian of science Jean-Jacques Salomon, Professor at the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM) and Scientific Adviser to the Futuribles group, died on 14 January 2008. Salomon was a student of Raymond Aron and Georges Canguilhem, under whose supervision he gained his doctorate (in philosophy and the history of science). After a first career in journalism, he became head of the Science and Technology Policy Division of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He was invited to teach at a great many universities and held the chair of “Technology and Society” at CNAM, where he founded the “Science, Technology and Society” Research Centre and was its Director.
He was the author of many works, from Science and Politics (London: Pan, 1999; first published in French, 1970) to Les Scientifiques. Entre savoir et pouvoir [Scientists. Between Knowledge and Power] (Paris: Albin Michel, 2006) and Une civilisation à hauts risques [A High-Risk Civilization] (Paris: Éditions Charles-Léopold-Mayer, 2007). He also contributed countless articles, many of them to the Futuribles journal. Jean-Jacques Salomon was regarded as a great thinker of modern times, as an informed and courageous critic of scientific and technological developments, of their uses, both beneficial and perverse, and also of the essential need to re-evaluate them from ethical, philosophical, political and social standpoints.
The Futuribles journal, in the persons of Geneviève Schméder, André Lebeau and Hugues de Jouvenel, here pays homage to him. It will continue to be deeply influenced by the thinking of one of its chief contributors.