Frédéric Morin
Frédéric Morin (11 June 1823 – 22 August 1874) was a French philosopher, professor, journalist and politician.
Biography
Frédéric Morin was born in Lyon, the son of François Jérôme, a journalist who was, in 1830, editor-in-chief of Le Précurseur and Marie Benoîte (née Paquet). He went to finish his studies in Paris and was admitted in 1844 to the École Normale, where he devoted himself almost exclusively to philosophy. In 1847, he became a professor of this discipline at Mâcon, then obtained an agrégation in philosophy in 1848, and finally was sent, the following year, to the Lyceum of Nancy.
He spoke out strongly against the 1851 coup d'état and was sent in disgrace to the Lyceum of Bourges. Having shortly afterwards refused to take the oath of loyalty to Napoleon III, he was considered by the authorities to have resigned his post as a professor. On this occasion, he met Henri Brisson, who was still only a student, and with whom he remained linked all his life. Morin then returned to Paris, where, in a rather precarious position, he lived for several years on the product of a few private lessons, dividing his time between the work of the free professorship, the composition of various works and the collaboration with the press. Arrested successively in 1853, in 1854, and twice in 1857 for offenses of opinion, he had to undergo each time a more or less prolonged preventive imprisonment.
In 1857 — then again in 1863 — Frédéric Morin stood as an opposition candidate in Lyon, during the elections for the Legislative Body, but he failedto be elected both times, despite obtaining a large number of votes. In May 1859, he put his candidacy in Paris, in the 7th constituency, but withdrew it before the ballot was cast. In August of that same year, he was named a member of the general council of the Rhône. The majority of the council and that of the district council having refused to express the wish that the municipal council of the city of Lyon be elected by the people, Morin urged the independent members of the two councils to resign. Fourteen resignations, including that of Frédéric Morin, were thus given, and on December 1, 1867, the fourteen who resigned were re-elected by an overwhelming majority.
Appointed by the Government of National Defense prefect of Saône-et-Loire, on September 5, 1870, Frédéric Morin fulfilled these functions, which circumstances made so difficult, until February 1871, when he resigned. A government loan having been opened to meet the military needs of defence, Morin urged public officials to subscribe to this loan, reminding them that they had lived for many years at the expense of the nation. On leaving his post, he returned to Paris and resumed, at the editorial office of the Rappel, the position he occupied before the war. In June 1871 he was arrested, but released almost immediately afterwards.
Frédéric Morin died in the 5th arrondissement of Paris.
Writings
For a time, Frédéric Morin belonged to the group of Catholic socialists, whose leader was Philippe Buchez; but he was not long in separating from it in order to enter into a much larger and much more logical order of ideas. He published a sort of general program of philosophy under the title The Philosophy of Sciences, sought in their history. This program first appeared in the Revue de Paris and was then printed separately.
The general idea of Frédéric Morin is that progress is not made by evolution but by revolutions. The author tried to demonstrate this thesis by the comparative history of science and philosophy. He expounded on these ideas in several essays and articles. In the light of his theory, Morin proposed a new method for studying history, exposing it with force and conviction in a small popular book entitled: France in the Middle Ages (1859), applying his method to the study of the first efforts of French democracy, that is to say the study of the communal revolution and the parliamentary attempts of the fourteenth century.
As a journalist, Frédéric Morin put his firm and vigorous talent, his vast philosophical and historical knowledge, at the service of republican ideas. Among the many newspapers and periodicals to which he collaborated, we will cite: L'Avenir, Le Correspondant, the Revue de Paris, the Revue de l'instruction publique, the Courrier du dimanche, the Estafette, the Presse, L'Illustration, Le Progrès, the Phare de la Loire, the Gironde, the Revue germanique, the Avenir national, the Rappel, etc. He participated in the creation of several of them. In 1865, he also founded, with the freemasons Alexandre Massol and Henri Brisson the magazine Morale indépendante.
Private life
He was married to Adèle Célestine Destrez (born in 1825). It was his second marriage.
Works
- De la Nécessité d'introduire l'enseignement de l'économie politique dans l'instruction secondaire (1849)
- De l'Histoire de la philosophie scolastique et de ses rapports avec la question religieuse (1852)
- Saint François d'Assise et les Franciscains (1182-1226) (1853)
- Dictionnaire de philosophie et de théologie scolastiques, ou Études sur l'enseignement philosophique et théologique au moyen-âge (1856; edited by Jacques-Paul Migne)
- De la Genèse et des principes métaphysiques de la science moderne, ou la Philosophie des sciences cherchée dans leur histoire (1856)
- La France au moyen âge: Histoire de l'affranchissement des communes et des premières luttes du tiers état contre la royauté (1859; 1868)
- Principes de la loi civile (1860)
- Les Hommes et les livres contemporains (1862)
- Résumé populaire du droit civil (1863; 1872)
- Les idées du temps présent (1863)
- Origines de la démocratie: la France au moyen âge (1865)
- Politique et philosophie (1876; with preface by Jules Simon)
External links
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by
Sizoï Batilliat
|
Prefect of Saône-et-Loire 1870–1871 |
Succeeded by Charles Ferry |
