Ignace Meyerson cracks a joke, sort of

Ignace Meyerson, important interwar (and later) psychologist, was along
with Louis Gernet one of Pierre Vidal-Naquet's great influences - and then,
in his 50s, served under Vernant in the R=C3=A9sistance liberation of Toulo=
use,
editing the unit's newspaper. When Vernant is discussed in the USA, he's
most often linked with structuralist anthropologist Claude L=C3=A9vi-Straus=
s: no
complaints about that, since both are major figures.  But it's remarkable
that Meyerson, a longer term and arguably equally important influence, has
received far less attention.

Vernant wrote a wonderful essay on Meyerson that appeared as introduction
to a volume of Meyerson's writings and then re-appeared in Vernant, *Entre
myth et politique *(Paris, 1996).  Vernant calls Meyerson *un homme raide*,
but also reports a quasi-joke that is packed with meaning:

Au cours d=E2=80=99une conversation de sociologie et de grammaire avec Gran=
et,
Meyerson =C3=A9voquait un jour en disant sur un ton mi-s=C3=A9rieux, mi-pla=
isant :
=C2=AB Au fond, pour vous, le verbe est individuel, le nom social. =C2=BB
Faut-il dire que le faire est individuel, le fait social, le coup de ciseau
du sculpteur individuel, sa statue sociale ?

En r=C3=A9alit=C3=A9, on ne peut s=C3=A9parer le faire du fait. [a few page=
s of
explanation follow]

Dan