Lucien Sève

Lucien Sève (Chambéry, 1926 – Clamart, 2020) was a French philosopher, communist and political activist, and one of the leading figures of French Marxism in the second half of the twentieth century. He worked within the Marxist tradition, and his interest in the theory of personality and in psychology set him apart from many of his contemporaries.

He studied at the École normale supérieure, where he earned his agrégation in philosophy in 1949. He then taught philosophy in Brussels, though he was reportedly later removed from the post because of his Marxist views. In 1950 he joined the French Communist Party, sat on its Central Committee from 1961 to 1994, and ran its publishing house from 1970 to 1982. His best-known book, Marxisme et théorie de la personnalité (1969), has been translated into many languages. It argues that personality is a product of social relations rather than a fixed trait of human nature, a view he set against the ideas of Hans Eysenck.

Sève favoured a scientific rather than purely humanist basis for Marxism, and he debated with Louis Althusser and Roger Garaudy. He gradually distanced himself from the party and left it in 2010. From the 1980s he took part in the French National Consultative Ethics Committee, and in his late works, such as the four-volume Penser avec Marx aujourd'hui, he argued for Marx's continued relevance. His influence is most visible in Marxist psychology and in French debates over Marx's legacy.