Maine de Biran, F. P. Gonthier
Maine de Biran, F. P. Gonthier
(1766-1824) French philosopher and psychologist, who revolted against the dominant sensationalistic and materialistic psychology of Condlllac and Cabanis and developed, under the influence of Kant and Fichte, an idealistic and voluntaristic psychology. The mind directly experiences the activity of its will and at the same time the resistance offered to it by the “non-moi.” Upon this basis, Maine de Biran erected his metaphysics which interprets the conceptions of force, substance, cause, etc. in terms of the directly experienced activity of the will. This system of psychology and metaphysics, which came to be known as French spiritualism, exerted considerable influence on Cousin, Ravaisson and Renouvier. His writings includeDe la Decomposition de la Pensee (1805); Les Rapports du Physique et du Moral de l’Homme (1834); Essai sur les Fondements de la Psychologie (1812); Oeuvres Philosophiques, ed. by V. Cousin (1841). — L.W.