Edgar Morin, one of France's most emblematic public intellectuals, a former member of the Resistance during the Second World War who devoted his life to promoting critical thinking and fighting intolerance, has died at the age of 104, his wife announced on Saturday.
"He is the grandfather of all French people and the memory of the 20th century," wrote the left-wing daily Libération in a 2021 profile of this elegant philosopher, a lover of hats and silk ties.
On Saturday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute on X to the memory of this "universal spirit", "humanism personified".
For former Élysée tenant François Hollande, Morin "chose, throughout his long life, the paths of intellectual freedom. Stumbling at times, always correcting himself."
A sign of his undeniable intellectual reach, tributes to Morin were pouring in on Saturday morning, from the right and the far left alike.
