author
Paul Janet
1823–1899
A leading French philosopher of the 19th century, he wrote clearly about morality, politics, and the history of ideas while teaching generations of students in Paris. His work helped carry French spiritualist philosophy into a new age of debate.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Paris in 1823, Paul Janet became one of France's best-known philosophical writers and teachers. He taught moral philosophy at Bourges and Strasbourg, later taught logic at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and in 1864 was appointed to the Sorbonne, where he built a lasting reputation as a professor of philosophy.
Janet wrote on ethics, politics, metaphysics, and the history of philosophy. His books include studies of Plato and Hegel, works on the family and political thought, and essays that tried to make big philosophical questions readable for a wider audience. He is often associated with the French spiritualist tradition and with efforts to connect philosophy to moral life.
He was elected to the Académie des sciences morales et politiques in 1864, a sign of the respect he earned in French intellectual life. Janet died in Paris in 1899, but his books continued to circulate well after his lifetime, especially among readers interested in classical philosophy, moral thought, and the development of modern French ideas.