André Comte-Sponville puts philosophy at the service of life, work and action. He explores happiness, desire, ethics, responsibility and management with one simple ambition: to help us live and decide more lucidly.
André Comte-Sponville is one of the most widely read and recognised contemporary French philosophers.
A graduate of the École normale supérieure, agrégé in philosophy and PhD from Paris 1 University, he taught at the Sorbonne for nearly fifteen years. Influenced by Epicurus, Montaigne and Spinoza, he has developed a materialist, humanist and highly accessible philosophy.
Why do we work? How can we motivate without coercing? Should work make us happy? André Comte-Sponville applies philosophy to very concrete business issues: motivation, management, meaning, engagement, performance and responsibility.
His thinking is wary of promises and illusions. Rather than waiting for future happiness, he invites us to love and act in the present—a philosophy of lucidity that is especially valuable in uncertain times.
Translated into more than 30 languages, he has written numerous landmark books, including A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues, Happiness, Desperately, Is Capitalism Moral? and The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality. In 2025, he published L'Opportunité de vivre – Ultimes études with PUF.
Work, artificial intelligence, ecological transition, medicine, spirituality, secularism, love and end-of-life issues: André Comte-Sponville brings philosophical perspective to the major questions of our time.
Better to act than to hope or tremble!
André Comte-Sponville brings philosophy to the very concrete questions facing leaders, managers and citizens: work, desire, motivation, responsibility, decision-making and the meaning of action.
Why do we really work?
Work is rarely an end in itself. So how do we create genuine engagement? André Comte-Sponville explores the links between desire, motivation, happiness and management to understand what truly drives a team.
How do you manage people who would rather not work?
The question may sound provocative, yet it lies at the heart of management. André Comte-Sponville shows that performance does not come from injunctions, but from understanding what genuinely moves people to act.
Stop waiting and start living.
We spend part of our lives hoping for what we do not yet have. What if happiness began when we stopped waiting? André Comte-Sponville offers a philosophy of action, desire and the present to help us live with greater lucidity.
Profit, responsibility and humanity.
Should a company be moral? Can markets produce virtue? André Comte-Sponville clearly distinguishes economics, law, politics, and morality to avoid confusion and think more rigorously about genuine responsibility.
Decide without waiting for zero risk.
Every decision contains uncertainty. How can we act without recklessness, yet without allowing fear to paralyse us? André Comte-Sponville brings courage and prudence into dialogue to offer a philosophy of decision-making particularly relevant to leaders.
What do we want to pass on?
Freedom, responsibility, humanism and secularism: which values can still bring us together in a fragmented world? André Comte-Sponville examines our heritage to help us think more clearly about the future.
Learning to live because we know we will die.
A deep reflection on finitude, the choice to live and wisdom. Because life is fragile, it deserves to be fully lived.
Can we have a spiritual life without believing in God?
An exploration of spirituality, freedom of conscience and secular wisdom.
Should every human vulnerability become a medical problem?
André Comte-Sponville examines the boundaries between medicine, care, vulnerability and the human condition.
How do we act when the world changes faster than our certainties?
A reflection on responsibility, political courage, ecological transition and collective choices in a world changing faster than our certainties.
André Comte-Sponville speaks at the key moments where people, performance and impact matter.
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