Jeanne Hersch
Swiss philosopher (1910-2000)
title: "Jeanne Hersch" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1910-births", "2000-deaths", "20th-century-swiss-philosophers", "albert-einstein-medal-recipients", "jewish-philosophers", "swiss-human-rights-activists", "20th-century-swiss-jews", "swiss-women-philosophers", "writers-from-geneva", "people-associated-with-the-university-of-basel", "academic-staff-of-the-university-of-geneva"] description: "Swiss philosopher (1910-2000)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Hersch" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Swiss philosopher (1910-2000) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox philosopher"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jeanne Hersch |
| native_name | |
| image | Jeanne Hersch 1991.jpg |
| caption | Jeanne Hersch (1991) |
| birth_name | |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Geneva, Switzerland |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Geneva, Switzerland |
| nationality | |
| family | Liebmann Hersch (father) |
| notable_works | |
| awards | Einstein Medal |
| thesis_title | |
| thesis_url | |
| thesis_year | |
| doctoral_advisor | |
| main_interests | Freedom |
| influences | |
| influenced | |
| website | |
| :: |
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Jeanne Hersch (13 July 1910 – 5 June 2000) was a Swiss philosopher of Polish-Jewish origin, whose works dealt with the concept of freedom. She was the daughter of Liebman Hersch.
Education and career
Hersch was born in 1910 in Geneva, Switzerland. She later studied under the existentialist Karl Jaspers in Germany in the early 1930s. She taught French, Latin, and Philosophy in the International School of Geneva, the world's first international school, for 33 years (1933–1956).
From 1942 to 1946, she participated in the doctoral colloquium of the philosopher Paul Häberlin, the predecessor of Karl Jaspers, at the University of Basel. Häberlin's Lucerna Foundation supported her doctoral thesis with a scholarship.
In 1956, she was appointed to a professorship at the University of Geneva, one of the first women to hold such a post at a Swiss university, holding the post until 1977. From 1966 to 1968, Hersch headed the philosophy division of UNESCO and was a member of its executive commission from 1970 to 1972.
In 1968 she edited Le droit d'être un homme, une anthologie mondiale de la liberté in French (translated in English in 1969 as Birthright of Man: A Selection of Texts and also in Greek as Το δικαίωμα να είσαι άνθρωπος), an anthology of writings on human rights, republished in French in 1984 and 1990.
In 1987, she received the Einstein Medal.
Honors and Awards
- 1936: Prix Amiel (Amiel Prize) from the University of Geneva for her first book L'illusion philosophique.
- 1941: Prix littéraire de la Guilde du Livre (Book Guild's Literary Prize) for her novel Temps alternés
- 1947: Prix Adolphe Neuman d'esthétique et de morale (Adolphe Neuman Prize of aesthetics and morals)
- 1970: Ida-Somazzi-Preis
Bibliography
- Emmanuel Dufour-Kowalski Présence dans le Temps, L'Âge d'Homme Editions, Lausanne, 1999.
References
References
- (27 November 2019). "Ecolint Women Honoured in Geneva".
- "Ecolint's Jewish Heritage".
- "Hersch, Jeanne (1910-2000)".
- ''Echo'', Issue 18, Spring 2016, page 19 https://issuu.com/feig/docs/echo_18_web
- Hersch, Jeanne, and Silvan Imhof. “Zur Diskontinuität Der Menschlichen Perspektiven (1947).” ''Jeanne Hersch: Ausgewählte Philosophische Schriften 1'', Schwabe Verlag, Basel, 2020, pp. 168–168. URL: https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/49907/9783796541513.pdf?sequence=1
- (2000-06-08). "Jeanne Hersch; Swiss Philosopher". [[Los Angeles Times]].
- [http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000000/000029eo.pdf Electronic copy (PDF) of ''Birthright of man'' in English] at UNESCO
- {{usurped
- [http://www.einstein-bern.ch/index.php?lang=en&show=medaille Albert Einstein Medal Laureates]
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