Bernard Henri-Lévy is France’s most famous but also most controversial philosopher. As a dandy and millionaire, he plays on all fronts.
He explains neither the world nor the self, like Kant, Hegel, Marx or Freud. Bernard-Henri Lévy has too many preferences for that: sometimes he is a novelist, filmmaker and essayist, sometimes he is a war reporter, businessman and unofficial presidential advisor. “BHL”, known only by his initials in France, is the country’s most famous and controversial philosopher. Or as “Le Figaro” writes: “France’s most hated dandy.”
For Lévy, who turns 75 on Sunday (November 5), philosophy is an intellectual basis that he uses to “live on all sides at the same time.” The intellectual was born in Béni Saf in Algeria. He comes from a wealthy Jewish family that moved to Paris after his birth.
“BHL” has published over 40 books and made around ten films, mostly documentaries. He published his first book in 1973. In it he wrote down his observations as a war reporter for the newspaper “Combat”. Since then, the co-founder of “Nouvelle Philosophy” – a movement that declared war on Enlightenment thought and especially Marxism in the mid-1970s – has always been there wherever there are conflicts.
“BHL” as a war reporter
He wrote a book about the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and made “Bosna!”, as well as about the revolution in Libya, about which he made “The Oath of Tobruk”. His latest documentary, “Slava Ukraini,” is about the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
“A film about BHL, played by BHL,” was the review of the weekly magazine “Marianne”, which cynically opined that Lévy was innovating the war film genre by putting it in the service of the only true contemporary values - narcissism and masturbation.
“Bernard-Henri Lévy or belligerent narcissism”, “Narcissistic billionaire with an unbuttoned shirt”, “important”, “imposter”: Lévy is a master of self-dramatization. In his films he appears in almost every third scene. His always the same outfit: black suit, half-unbuttoned, immaculate white shirt.
In 2015, when Lévy posted photos on
The philosopher and his media power
Lévy is omnipresent in the media world. Journalist Christophe Barbier summed it up on France Info radio station that he is his own medium. His sphere of influence is considerable: he is the founder of the magazine “La Règle du Jeu”, which deals with literature, philosophy, politics and art, president of the supervisory board of Arte France, and plays a role in the management of the Grasset publishing house, where most of his books are published appear.
According to the business magazine “Capital” he is said to be at the head of an empire that is estimated at 70 million euros. Some comes from the timber trading company founded by his father. He is also a busy businessman. Among other things, he has invested in companies that export sugar, flour or rice to Africa, produce frozen foods and offer private jet services. He also owns luxury apartments and villas.
Political influence on France’s president
In terms of domestic policy, he sided with the socialist politician Ségolène Royal in the presidential election campaign at the end of 2006, whose close advisor he became. This did not stop him from convincing the conservative victor, Nicolas Sarkozy, to provide military support to the Libyan revolution against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
For the ex-ambassador and writer Jean-Christophe Rufin, “BHL” was France’s unofficial foreign minister for around 20 years. He is said to have persuaded Jacques Chirac to get involved in Kosovo and François Hollande in Syria. In an interview with the radio station Europe 1 in 2015, Rufin called for the end of “Bernard Henri Lévism”.
Errors and errors
With his book “On War in Philosophy” in 2010, he wanted to return to his original field of expertise. In it, he took particularly strong action against the Enlightenment philosopher Kant, whom he called an “angry madman of thought”. In his argument he referred to a Kant scholar named Jean-Baptiste Botul, who, however, turned out to be a fictional character.
Lévy publicly admitted his misfortune. In the daily newspaper “Libération” he explained that the fictional Kant was in full harmony with his idea of the German thinker.
“BHL” has been accused of improper research several times, including by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet. “Le Monde diplomatique” created a dossier on him years ago. The title: “L’imposture Bernard-Henri Lévy” (“The Fraud Bernard-Henri Lévy”).