Charles Secrétan

Charles Secrétan
Born	(1815-01-19)19 January 1815 Lausanne, Switzerland
Died	Lausanne, Switzerland
Nationality	Swiss
Occupation	Professor of philosophy at Lausanne and Neuchâtel
Known for	Founding/editing Revue Suisse

Charles Gabriel Rodolphe Secrétan (19 January 1815 – 21 January 1895) was a Swiss was a Swiss jurist, teacher, Protestant theologian and philosopher.

Biography

Charles Secrétan was born at Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Admitted to the bar in 1838, he worked as a jurist in his father's law firm.

He studied philosophy in Munich (1835–1836 and 1839) and taught there. He took part in the creation of the Free Church's Faculty of Theology, before staying in Paris and finally returning to Switzerland in 1850. He was extraordinary professor from 1838 to 1840 and ordinary professor of philosophy from 1841 to 1846, at the University of Lausanne; then ordinary professor of philosophy from 1846 to 1866 at the Academy of Neuchâtel; and again in Lausanne from 1866 to 1895.

He was a disciple of Friedrich Schelling (1835–36 in Munich), Alexandre Vinet (whose letters he published), influenced by Jules Lequier and a friend of Charles Renouvier.

In 1837, he founded the Revue suisse, whose 1st issue appeared in 1838. He was editor of the Courrier suisse between 1845 and 1848, and a contributor to various magazines (Bibliothèque universelle, Semeur, Revue chrétienne, Critique philosophique). Christian apologist, metaphysician and moralist, he wrote several works in these fields between 1848 and his death in 1895.

Thought

For Secrétan, God is not a necessary being, but rather a free being. His nature is expressed by: "I am who I want to be." This idea was later elaborated by Charles Hartshorne. For him, personal freedom and solidarity are the keys to the social question. He strove to create a rational, philosophical religion, and to reconcile the foundations of Christianity with metaphysical philosophy.

Secrétan is one of the few thinkers to use natural law as an argument for women's emancipation (and not against it) in Le droit de la Femme, published in 1886. In it, he discusses his motivations for establishing (or rather increasing) women's rights (especially political rights).

Works

• La Philosophie de Leibnitz, fragments d'un cours d'histoire de la métaphysique, donné dans l'Académie de Lausanne (1840)
• La philosophie de la liberté: Cours de philosophie morale fait à Lausanne. Tome 1: L'histoire, t. 2: L'idée (1848; 1879)
• Recherches de la méthode qui conduit à la vérité sur nos plus grands intérêts, avec quelques applications et quelques exemples (1857)
• La raison et le christianisme: Douze lectures sur l'existence de Dieu (1863)
• Précis élémentaire de philosophie (1868)
• La Philosophie de Victor Cousin (1868)
• Discours laïques (1877; 1910)
• Le principe de la morale (1883; 1893)
• Théologie et religion (1883)
• La question sociale (1886)
• Le droit de la femme (1886; 1908)
• La civilisation et la croyance (1887; 1893)
• Études sociales (1889)
• Les droits de l'humanité (1890; 1912)
• Mon Utopie. Nouvelles études morales et sociales (1892)
• Paysages vaudois (1895)
• Essais de philosophie et de littérature (1896)

References

• Frank Abauzit, L'énigme du monde et sa solution selon Charles Secrétan. Paris: Félix Alcan (1922).
• Samuel Berthoud, Trois doctrines. Charles Secrétan, Jean-Jacques Gourd, Léon Brunschvicg (1939).
• André Burnier, La pensée de Charles Secrétan et le problème du fondement métaphysique des jugements de valeur moraux. Thèse. Lausanne-Neuchâtel, Paul Attinger (1934).
• Joseph Duproix, Charles Secrétan et la philosophie kantienne. Paris: Librairie Fischbacher (1900).
• Gaston Frommel, Esquisses contemporaines. Pierre Loti, H.F. Amiel, Charles Secrétan, Paul Bourget, Edmond Schérer. Lausanne: Arthur Imer (1891).
• Paul Garreau, La "philosophie de la liberté" de M. Secrétan, professeur à Lausanne. Paris: Sandoz et Fischbacher (1872).
• Edmond Grin, Les origines et l'évolution de la pensée de Charles Secrétan. Lausanne: Bibliothèque de la Faculté de théologie (1930).
• Nicole Hatem, ed., Charles Secrétan philosophe de la liberté. Beyrouth: USJ (2016).
• Marianne Maurer, Charles Secrétan. Fragments choisis et précédés d'un Avant-propos. Lausanne: Payot (ca. 1915).
• Michel Mayor, Charles Secrétan: Brève esquisse de sa vie et de son œuvre. Neuchâtel - Paris: Delachaux & Niestlé S.A. (1942).
• Paweł Mazanka, "Secrétan, Charles." In: Powszechna Encyklopedia Filozofii, t. 9: Se-Ż. Lublin: SITA-PL (2008), pp. 9–109.
• Olivier Meuwly, "Charles Secrétan, libéral et féministe," Passé simple. Mensuel romand d'histoire et d'archéologie, No. 72 (février 2022), pp. 34–35.
• Louis Molines, Charles Secrétan, ou un essai de métaphysique au xixe siècle (1896).
• François Pillon, La Philosophie de Charles Secrétan. Paris: Ancienne Librairie Germer Bailliére et Cie. - Félix Alcan (1898).
• Alexandra Roux, "Charles Secrétan schellingien?" In: E. Gaziaux, ed., Philosophie et théologie. Festschrift Emilio Brito. Leuven: Peeters/University Press (2007), pp. 213–42.
• Louise Secrétan, Charles Secrétan, sa vie et son œuvre. Lausanne: Payot & cie (1914).

External links

• Works by Charles Secrétan at Gallica
• Works by Charles Secrétan at Project Gutenberg