Alfred Jules Émile Fouillée
Encyclopedia
Alfred Jules Émile Fouillée (October 18, 1838 — 1912) was a French
philosopher.
, Maine-et-Loire
. He held several minor philosophical lectureships, and from 1864 was professor of philosophy at the lycées of Douai
, Montpellier
and Bordeaux
successively. In 1867 and 1868 he was crowned by the Academy of Moral Science for his work on Plato
and Socrates
. In 1872 he was elected master of conferences at the Ecole Normale, and was made doctor of philosophy in recognition of his two treatises, Platonis Hippias Minor sine Socratica contra liberum arbitrium argumenta and La Liberté et le déterminisme.
The strain of the next three years' continuous work undermined his health and his eyesight, and he was compelled to retire from his professorship. During these years he had published works on Plato and Socrates and a history of philosophy (1875); but after his retirement he further developed his philosophical position, a speculative eclecticism through which he endeavoured to reconcile metaphysical idealism with the naturalistic and mechanical standpoint of science.
In L'Evolutionnisme des idées-forces (1890), La Psychologie des idées-forces (1893), and La Morale des idées-forces (1907), is elaborated his doctrine of idées forces, or of mind as efficient cause through the tendency of ideas to realize themselves in appropriate movement. Ethical and sociological developments of this theory succeed its physical and psychological treatment, the consideration of the antinomy
of freedom being especially important.
Fouillée's wife, Augustine Fouillée, who by a previous marriage was the mother of the poet and philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau
, is better known, under the pseudonym of "G Bruno," as the author of the educational novel and school book Le Tour de la France par deux enfants
(1877).
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
philosopher.
Life
Fouillée was born at La PouëzeLa Pouëze
La Pouëze is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.-References:...
, Maine-et-Loire
Maine-et-Loire
Maine-et-Loire is a department in west-central France, in the Pays de la Loire region.- History :Maine-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Originally it was called Mayenne-et-Loire, but its name was changed to Maine-et-Loire in 1791....
. He held several minor philosophical lectureships, and from 1864 was professor of philosophy at the lycées of Douai
Douai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
, Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
and Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
successively. In 1867 and 1868 he was crowned by the Academy of Moral Science for his work on Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
. In 1872 he was elected master of conferences at the Ecole Normale, and was made doctor of philosophy in recognition of his two treatises, Platonis Hippias Minor sine Socratica contra liberum arbitrium argumenta and La Liberté et le déterminisme.
The strain of the next three years' continuous work undermined his health and his eyesight, and he was compelled to retire from his professorship. During these years he had published works on Plato and Socrates and a history of philosophy (1875); but after his retirement he further developed his philosophical position, a speculative eclecticism through which he endeavoured to reconcile metaphysical idealism with the naturalistic and mechanical standpoint of science.
In L'Evolutionnisme des idées-forces (1890), La Psychologie des idées-forces (1893), and La Morale des idées-forces (1907), is elaborated his doctrine of idées forces, or of mind as efficient cause through the tendency of ideas to realize themselves in appropriate movement. Ethical and sociological developments of this theory succeed its physical and psychological treatment, the consideration of the antinomy
Antinomy
Antinomy literally means the mutual incompatibility, real or apparent, of two laws. It is a term used in logic and epistemology....
of freedom being especially important.
Fouillée's wife, Augustine Fouillée, who by a previous marriage was the mother of the poet and philosopher Jean-Marie Guyau
Jean-Marie Guyau
Jean-Marie Guyau was a French philosopher and poet.Guyau was inspired by, amongst others, the philosophies of Epicurus, Epictetus, Plato, Immanuel Kant, Herbert Spencer, and Alfred Fouillée, and the poetry/literature of Pierre Corneille, Victor Hugo, and Alfred de Musset.- Life :Guyau got his...
, is better known, under the pseudonym of "G Bruno," as the author of the educational novel and school book Le Tour de la France par deux enfants
Le Tour de la France par deux enfants
Le Tour de la France par deux enfants is a French novel/geography/travel/school book. It was written by Augustine Fouillée who used the pseudonym of G. Bruno. She was the wife of Alfred Jules Émile Fouillée...
(1877).
Works
His other chief works are:- L'Idée moderne du droit en Allemagne, en Angleterre et en France (Paris, 1878)
- La Science sociale contemporaine (1880)
- La Propriété sociale et la démocratie (1884)
- Critique des systèmes de morale contemporains (1883)
- La Morale, l'art et la religion d'après Guyau (1889)
- L'Avenir de la métaphysique fondée sur l'expérience (1889)
- L'Enseignement au point de vue national (1891)
- DescartesRené DescartesRené Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
(1893) - Tempérament et caractère (2nd ed., 1895)
- Le Mouvement positiviste et la conception sociologique du monde (1896)
- Le Mouvement idéaliste et la réaction contre la science positive (1896)
- La Psychologie du peuple français (2nd ed., 1898)
- La France au point de vue moral (1900)
- L'Esquisse psychologique des peuples européens (1903)
- NietzscheFriedrich NietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
et "l'immoralisme" (1903) - Le Moralisme de KantImmanuel KantImmanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
, et l'immoralisme contemporain (1905)