Dr. Sophie Chénard

Biography

Sophie Marcotte Chénard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science whose research focuses on contemporary political social philosophy, with particular emphasis on 19th and 20th-century German thought, French democratic theory, and interpretative approaches to the history of political ideas. She is the author of 'Devant l’histoire en crise. Raymond Aron et Leo Strauss' (University of Montreal Press, 2022), which presents a fresh interpretation of the intellectual exchanges between key figures in 20th-century political thought. Her work critically examines the crisis of historicism, especially in the interwar period in Germany and France, addressing the boundaries of political judgment. Her published research appears in various academic journals, including the Review of Politics and the Journal of Philosophy History. In addition to her role at Carleton University, Dr. Marcotte Chénard completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in political theory at the University of Toronto. She also held a Visiting Doctoral Fellowship at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Originally from Quebec, she holds a BA in Political Science and Philosophy and an MA in Philosophy from the University of Ottawa, along with a PhD in Political Philosophy from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris.

Research Interests