Born in 1946, is currently Director of Studies at the Centre for Policy Research "Raymond Aron ', attached to the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and editor of the journal Le Debat. Among his most important books include La Révolution des Droits de l'homme (1989), La Révolution des pouvoirs (1995), La contre elle-même démocratie (2002), Un monde désenchanté? (2004) and Le religieux après la religion (2004) (in collaboration with Luc Ferry), in addition to his seminal work The disenchantment of the world. A Political History of Religion (2005), published in the same Publisher.