O.R. is born in 1964. Graduated from Ecole polytechnique in Paris, he completed a PhD in Mathematics and entered CNRS in 1989. Along with his research in Mathematics he published two books concerned with the status and meaning of science in modern thought (Itinéraire de l’égarement, Seuil, 2003), and with the problematic relation of present-day societies and individuals to tradition (Une folle solitude – Le fantasme de l’homme auto-construit, Seuil, 2006). He recently joined the philosophy department of CNRS and teaches at University Panthéon-Sorbonne.