Frédérick Têtu is a philosophy teacher born in the city of Québec (Qc, Canada) in 1967. He holds a B.A. and a master’s degree in philosophy from the Université Laval (Canada), and a bachelor of law (LL.B) from McGill University (Canada). He has done further studies in political science at Boston College (USA).
Mr. Têtu was a co-founder of the publishing house Résurgences, through which he translated several works including Euthyphron, Apologie de Socrate, Criton and Phédon (extract). He has been teaching philosophy at the Cégep François-Xavier-Garneau (Qc, Canada) for 14 years. He participates in Les Analystes, a blog in which the contributors question conventional wisdom in politics. He was an independent candidate for the 2006 federal elections in the district of Louis-Hébert. Mr. Têtu was one of the ten interviewed experts in the documentary The Quiet Illusion (2006) which suggests rational causes (and, consequently, potential solutions) with regards to the social and economic ills in Quebec’s politics:
« Je pense que pour commencer à comprendre la dynamique sociale du Québec, il faut comprendre qu’on en est venu graduellement à vivre sous l’emprise de ce que j’appelle la pensée magique. Or, dans un régime de pensée magique, on préfère voir le mirage projeté sur le mur que le mur qu’on s’apprête à frapper. »
(English translation: “I think that to be able to start understanding the social dynamics of Quebec, we must understand that we gradually came to live in the grip of what I call magical thinking. Now, in a system of magical thinking, we prefer to see the mirage projected on the wall rather than the wall that we are about to hit.”)
- Frédérick Têtu in The Quiet Illusion
He is a frequent guest in radio and television shows (e.g. Radio-Canada, CHOI FM, Télé-Québec).
“Les adéquistes devraient se méfier de Québec solidaire”, Lesanalystes.ca (June 2010)
“L’affaire Maxime Bernier et l’immobilisme québécois” (a.k.a. “La paranoïa nationaliste”), Lesanalystes.ca (May 2010)
“Budget «courageux»?”, Le Journal de Montréal (April 26, 2010) p. 26
“Gérard Latulippe : une lapidation publique mal intentionnée”, Lesanalystes.ca (April 2010)
“Le Devoir de philo - Rousseau, père spirituel de Québec solidaire”, Le Devoir.com (June 2006)
“Le cri d’une génération. L’affaire “ CHOI-FM ” et le conflit des générations”, Revue Argument (October 2004)