Paul Janet

author

Paul Janet

1823–1899

A major French philosopher of the 19th century, he spent decades teaching at leading schools and writing clear, wide-ranging works on morality, metaphysics, and the history of ideas. His books helped carry spiritualist philosophy to a broad educated audience in France.

1 Audiobook

Elements of Morals With Special Application of the Moral Law to the Duties of the Individual and of Society and the State

Elements of Morals With Special Application of the Moral Law to the Duties of the Individual and of Society and the State

by Paul Janet

About the author

Born in Paris on April 30, 1823, Paul Janet became one of the best-known French philosophical writers of his generation. He studied at the École Normale Supérieure and went on to teach moral philosophy at Bourges and Strasbourg before later teaching logic at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.

In 1864 he joined the Sorbonne, where he succeeded Adolphe Franck and built a long academic career. He wrote on thinkers including Plato and Hegel, and his work is often linked with the French spiritualist tradition associated with Victor Cousin. Alongside more technical philosophy, he also published essays and books meant for a wider reading public.

Janet died in Paris on October 4, 1899. Remembered as both a scholar and an accessible man of letters, he helped shape how philosophy was taught and discussed in France during the later 19th century.