Émile Bréhier

Émile Bréhier (French: [bʁeje]; 12 April 1876 – 3 February 1952) was a French philosopher. His interest was in classical philosophy, and the history of philosophy. He wrote a Histoire de la Philosophie, translated into English in seven volumes.

Life

Bréhier was born in Bar-le-Duc. He studied at the University of Paris. In 1908 he received his doctorate at the Sorbonne with a dissertation about Philo of Alexandria. Bréhier was Henri Bergson's successor at the University of Paris in 1945.

The historian Louis Bréhier was his brother. He died in Paris.

Career overview

He was an early follower of Bergson; in the 1930s there was an influential view that Bergsonism and Neoplatonism were linked.

He has been called "the sole figure in the French history who adopts an Hegelian interpretation of Neoplatonism", but also a Neo-Kantian opponent of Hegel.

Works

History of Philosophy

• Histoire de la Philosophie Allemande (1921; 3rd edition updated by Paul Ricœur, 1954)
• Histoire de la Philosophie
  • I. — Antiquité et Moyen Âge (1926–28; 3 volumes)
  • II. — La Philosophie Moderne (1929–32; 4 volumes)
  • Fascicule Supplémentaire: La Philosophie en Orient (1948; with Paul Masson-Oursel)

Essays

• La Théorie des Incorporels dans l'Ancien Stoïcisme (1907)
• Les Idées Philosophiques et Religieuses de Philon d'Alexandrie (1908)
• Chrysippe (1910)
• Schelling (1912)
• Pendant la Guerre (1918)
• La Philosophie de Plotin (1928)
• La Philosophie et son Passé (1950)
• Transformation de la Philosophie Française 1900-1950 (1950)
• Études de Philosophie Antique (1955)
• Les Thèmes Actuels de la Philosophie (1967)

Prefaces

• Lydie Adolphe, La Philosophie Religieuse de Bergson (1946)
• André Henry, Bergson Maitre de Péguy (1948)

Publications

• "Origine des Images Symboliques," Revue Philosophique, Vol. LXXV, 1913, pp. 135–55.
• "La Vérité Spéculative," Revue Philosophique, Vol. LXXVII, 1914, pp. 611–23.
• "L'Acte Symbolique," Revue Philosophique, Vol. LXXXIV, 1917, pp. 345–61.
• "Les Postulats de l'Histoire de la Philosophie," Revue Philosophique, Vol. XCIX, 1925, pp. 48–78.
• "Hellénisme et Christianisme aux Premiers Siècles de Notre Ère," Revue Philosophique, Vol. CIII, 1927, pp. 5–35.
• "Y a-t-il une Philosophie Chrétienne?," Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2, 1931, pp. 133–62.
• "La Création des Vérités Éternelles dans le Système de Descartes," Revue Philosophique, Vol. CXXIII, 1937, pp. 15–29.
• "L'Etat Présent de la Philosophie d’après les Travaux du Congrès Descartes," Revue Philosophique, Vol. CXXV, 1938, pp. 5–26.
• "Les 'Jugements Naturels' chez Malebranche," Revue Philosophique, Vol. CXXV, 1938, pp. 142–50.
• "L'Idéalisme de Léon Brunschvicg," Revue Philosophique, Vol. CXXXVI, 1946, pp. 1–7.
• "Leibniz et la Discussion," Revue Philosophique, Vol. CXXXVII, 1946, pp. 385–90.
• "Images plotiniennes, Images bergsoniennes," in Les études bergsoniennes, II, 1949.

Translations

• Ennéades, by Plotinus (1924–38)
• Les Stoïciens (1962)

Translated into English

• The Philosophy of Plotinus (1958)
• The History of Philosophy (1963–69; 7 volumes)
• "The Creation of the Eternal Truths in Descartes's System." In: Willis Doney, ed., Descartes: A Collection of Critical Essays (1967)
• "Is There a Christian Philosophy?." In: Gregory B. Sadler, ed., Reason Fulfilled by Revelation: The 1930s Christian Philosophy Debates in France (2011)

References

• Alan D. Schrift (2006), Twentieth-Century French Philosophy: Key Themes And Thinkers, p. 107.
• Uhlmann, Anthony (2001). "The Ancient Stoics, Émile Bréhier, and Beckett's Beings of Violence". Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd'hui. XI: 351–60.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Works by Émile Bréhier at JSTOR
• IDIH page
• Biography (French)
• Oeuvres sur les classiques des sciences sociales fr:Les classiques des sciences sociales (French)