“Make philosophy an inner strength to act, decide, and live more justly.”
Laurence Devillairs
Laurence Devillairs is a philosopher, essayist, and speaker, specialized in moral and political philosophy, a former student of the École Normale Supérieure, a graduate, and doctor in philosophy. Her work brings together great classical thinkers with contemporary issues of leadership, happiness, power, time, and individual responsibility. Through clear, embodied, and demanding speech, she shows how philosophy can become a living tool to understand the world, make sound decisions, and navigate challenges.
Laurence Devillairs
Laurence Devillairs is a philosopher, essayist, and lecturer. A former student of the École normale supérieure, she is an agrégée in philosophy, a doctor, and a lecturer, specializing in moral and political philosophy. Her work is part of a constant dialogue between the great figures of classical thought – Descartes, Pascal, Spinoza, Hobbes – and the contemporary issues that permeate our societies, organizations, and personal lives.
Formerly a professor at the Catholic Institute of Paris, where she was the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, Laurence Devillairs has also taught abroad, notably as a visiting professor at the University of Virginia and Columbia University (Reid Hall). She has been a research associate at the Collège de France and a fellow of the Thiers Foundation, developing a demanding and rigorous approach to philosophical thought, nourished by extensive teaching and research experience.
Alongside her academic career, Laurence Devillairs has pursued a high-level editorial career. She has been a literary director and editorial director at Éditions du Seuil, then at Éditions Belin and Odile Jacob, where she oversaw the publication of numerous essays in philosophy, history, social sciences, and religions. This dual experience – intellectual and editorial – gives her a rare ability to make thought accessible without ever simplifying it. Laurence Devillairs is the author of several acclaimed works, including "Healing Life through Philosophy," "Being a Good Person," "Philosophy of Good and Evil," and "A Happiness Without Measure." Translated in the United States as "The Philosophy Cure," her work explores how philosophy can help navigate through hardships, contemplating suffering, morality, happiness, freedom, and the meaning of existence.
An experienced speaker, Laurence Devillairs has been addressing very diverse audiences for many years: the general public, the medical world, cultural institutions, the media, and business leaders. She is an APM (Association for the Progress of Management) expert and regularly engages with leadership clubs in France and internationally, particularly on issues of power, authority, democracy, and leadership. Very active in the media, she frequently appears on France Inter, France Culture, RFI, and RTBF, and participates in numerous podcasts, conferences, and public debates. Laurence Devillairs develops a clear, deep, and embodied message that allows everyone – leaders, caregivers, citizens, or individuals – to find in philosophy a living tool to understand the world, decide, and act with precision.
Being a good person: morality as an experience of freedom!
- Morality is often seen as a set of constraining, even guilt-inducing rules. Laurence Devillairs, on the contrary, proposes to understand it as an intimate experience of freedom. Being a good person is not about mechanically obeying norms, but about the inner trial of a choice that elevates us beyond ourselves.
- Using concrete examples, everyday situations, and major figures in moral philosophy, this conference explores the difference between kindness and weakness, courage and cowardice, benevolence and complacency. It shows that kindness is a demanding strength, and that evil often begins with small ordinary renunciations.
- Laurence Devillairs sheds light on the mechanisms of moral decision-making: hesitation, inner conflict, responsibility, and exemplarity. She questions our relationship with fault, guilt, lying, and transparency, in personal life as well as in professional life.
- This conference invites everyone to rediscover morality as a space of inner liberation, of assumed responsibility, and of coherence between the values we proclaim and the actions we take.
Is the company a democracy? Power, authority, and leadership?
- The company is often analyzed from an economic or organizational perspective. Laurence Devillairs suggests thinking of it as a deeply political reality. Indeed, every organization raises the major questions of political philosophy: who decides, on behalf of whom, according to what legitimacy and with what limits?
- By relying on the great theories of power, authority, and democracy, this conference examines contemporary forms of governance, the tensions between hierarchy and participation, as well as the inherent conflicts in any collective structure.
- Laurence Devillairs particularly develops the notion of the charisma of exemplarity: a leadership based not on domination or seduction, but on the coherence between word and action, justice in decision-making, and recognition of alterity.
- A conference particularly appreciated by leaders and executives, which offers philosophical keys to understand conflicts, exercise authority with precision, and rethink leadership in a changing world.
Healing life through philosophy: going through trials differently
- Illness, suffering, mourning, or failure profoundly disrupt our references. Laurence Devillairs proposes a philosophical approach that does not seek to "positive" at all costs, but to understand and inhabit these fundamental human experiences.
- Based on her work conducted in medical and hospital contexts, she questions the notions of consolation, hope, happiness, and well-being. She deconstructs the idea that the sick person should "fight," and explores another relationship with care and vulnerability.
- Philosophy here becomes a tool of clarity and support, allowing for a more just connection between caregivers and patients, between body and spirit, between pain and meaning.
- This conference is addressed to both health professionals and anyone facing adversity, offering a deep, soothing, and profoundly human message.
Learning to waste time: rethinking our relationship with time and performance
- In a world dominated by urgency, productivity, and mental saturation, wasting time has become a fault. Laurence Devillairs proposes to make it, on the contrary, an essential resource for creativity, concentration, and inner freedom.
- This conference questions our relationship with time, overwork, burnout, and hyperconnectivity. It shows how the obsession with efficiency fragments attention and impoverishes the human experience.
- By relying on philosophy and concrete examples, Laurence Devillairs invites us to rediscover a richer relationship with time, made of duration, silence, fruitful solitude, and inner availability.
- A particularly relevant intervention for leaders, managers, and teams facing constant pressure and a loss of meaning.
Happiness, well-being, and sad passions: breaking free from the tyranny of happiness!
- Happiness has become a social injunction. One must be happy, high-performing, and fulfilled all the time. Laurence Devillairs provides a radical critique of this tyranny of happiness, which transforms failure, sadness, or doubt into anomalies to be corrected.
- This conference distinguishes happiness from mere well-being and rehabilitates so-called "sad" passions: nostalgia, sorrow, regrets, melancholy. It shows that these experiences are an integral part of human life and can be sources of depth and truth.
- Through philosophy, but also contemporary culture and television series, Laurence Devillairs explores our relationship with identity, freedom, and the meaning of life.
- A liberating conference that restores the right to the complexity of human emotions and opens another path towards a more just and true happiness.