French Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen paid tribute to Dufourmantelle in a tweet, saying the 53-year-old was "a great philosopher, a psychoanalyst, she helped us to live, to think about today's world".
Raphaël Enthoven, another prominent French philosopher, tweeted that he was "saddened and stunned" to learn of the death Dufourmantelle, "who spoke so well of dreams".
Dufourmantelle was the daughter of an Anglo-Swiss father and a French mother, taught at universities in France and the US, and had lived for several years in Latin America.
She was the author of numerous essays and books, in many of which she argued that exposure to threats and risks was an unavoidable and even necessary part of life.
Her first published book was co-written by the late Jacques Derrida, who is seen by many as one of the greatest contemporary philosophers.
One of her best-known works was In Praise of Risk, which was published in 2011. In a 2015 interview with newspaper Libération, for which she later wrote columns, she said that "the idea of absolute security - like 'zero risk' - is a fantasy".
In the face of "real danger that must be faced in order to survive, there is a strong incentive for action, dedication, and surpassing oneself", she told the paper.
"Being alive is a risk. Life is a metamorphosis and it begins with this risk. It is said, 'to risk one's life', but perhaps one should say, 'to risk life', (since) being alive is a risk."
The interview was carried out at a time when a wave of terror attacks had begun in France, and a huge influx of migrants into Europe was under way.
"The terrorist threat has always also been a political weapon to curtail liberties," she said.
Her funeral will be held in Ramatuelle, southern France.
