- Félix Ravaisson-Mollien
Jean Gaspard Félix Ravaisson-Mollien (
October 23 ,1813 –May 18 ,1900 ) was a Frenchphilosopher andarchaeologist .He was born at Namur. After a successful course of study at the College Rollin, he went to
Munich , where he attended the lectures of Schelling, and took his degree in philosophy in 1836. In the following year he published the first volume of his famous work "Essai sur la métaphysique d'Aristote", to which in 1846 he added a supplementary volume. This work not only criticizes and comments on the theories ofAristotle and thePeripatetic s, but also develops from them a modern philosophical system.In 1838 he received his doctorate, and became professor of philosophy at
Rennes . From 1840 he was inspector-general of public libraries, and in 1860 became inspector-general in the department of higher education. He was also a member of the Academy of Moral and Political Science, and curator of the Department of Antiquities at theLouvre (from 1870). He died in Paris.In philosophy, he was one of the school of
Victor Cousin , with whom he was at issue in many important points. The act of consciousness, according to him, is the basis of all knowledge. Acts of consciousness are manifestations of will, which is the motive and creative power of the intellectual life. The idea ofGod is a cumulative intuition given by all the various faculties of the mind, in its observation of harmony in nature and in man. This theory had considerable influence on speculative philosophy in France during the later years of the 19th century.Ravaisson's chief philosophical works are: "Les Fragments philosophiques de Hamilton" (in the "
Revue des Deux Mondes ", November, 1840); "Rapport sur le stoicisme" (1851); "La Philosophie en France au dix-neuvième siècle" (1868; 3rd ed, 1889); "Morale et métaphysique" (1893). Eminent as a philosopher, Ravaisson was also an archaeologist, and contributed articles on ancientsculpture to the "Revue Archéologique" and the "Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions". In 1871 he published a monograph on theVenus de Milo .See
Charles Bernard Renouvier , in "L'Année philosophique" (Paris, 1868); Dauriac, "Ravaisson philosophe et critique" ("La Critique philosophique", 1885, vol. ii.).References
*1911
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