Twice a month, in her column for L’Express, the philosopher and writer Julia de Funès analyzes the absurdities and excesses of our time. Whether it concerns the business world or, more broadly, society, the author of The Dangerous Virtue (Éditions de l’Observatoire) questions practices and ways of thinking that have become so familiar and formatted that they are sometimes no longer the subject of any questioning. Enough to shake some of our certainties and highlight some of our failings.
Judging by the success of her publications in our columns, many of you are already reading her. For those who missed it, here is a catch-up session through five emblematic chronicles of 2025. One of them is offered with free access for a few days. Enjoy! Happy reading.
The osteopath, new god of our modern existence
Extract : “Osteopathy is, in short, the emblematic therapy of an era which prefers immanence to transcendence, the body to the mind, the senses to the senses, the feeling to the truth, the therapist to the doctor. Osteopathy is not the remedy of our time: it is its exact symptom.” To read the column in its entirety, click here.
Nestlé sacks its loving boss: welcome to the era of the sentimental locker
Extract : “Our time has replaced confession to the priest with confession to thecompliance officer. In the past, one would whisper one’s faults in a low voice in a confessional; today, you have to expose your loves to bosses, your connections to HR, your private life to charters of conduct. Charters replace commandments, and leaders are deposed like bad priests when their private lives betray the required purity.” To read the chronicle in its entirety, click here.
When the diploma masks inexperience
“Where does this curious mixture of genres come from: practitioners who shelter behind theory, and theorists who complacently stray into practice? On the one hand, the rise of bureaucracy has transformed every skill into a diploma. Know-how, which was formerly learned over a long period of experience, is now sanctioned by an administrative title. On the other hand, the ideology of immediate efficiency has spread to intellectual professions. Concepts appearing “above ground”, we prefer practical “tools”, supposed to be applicable without effort.” To read the column in its entirety, click here.
Five vices that plague our political life (free access)
“Changing mentality and general spirit would therefore consist of refusing easy moralization, technocratic submission, frenzied individualism, normative absurdity and clannishness of thought. This start will come neither from a decree nor from a reshuffle, but from an intellectual awakening. Because the era does not lack intelligent men: it lacks spirit. And without spirit, even the best heads become hollow.” To read the column in its entirety, click here.
Taxation of inheritances: why we are fighting the wrong battle
“To tax inheritances even more would therefore be to abolish what binds them together – the meaning of a life of work, and the grateful gratitude between those who precede and those who continue. At a time when we are wondering so much about the meaning of work and the gap between generations, making inheritance even more restrictive would only aggravate these two contemporary wounds: the loss of meaning and the rupture of the link. Because inheritance remains above all a link between generations.” To read the column in its entirety, click here.
