Background
Lalande, André was born on July 19, 1867 in Dijon, France.
Philosopher of science Rationalist
Lalande, André was born on July 19, 1867 in Dijon, France.
L’École Normale Supérieure. In fis: Influenced by Herbert Spencer, Bergson and Emüe Meyerson.
1904-1963, Professor of Philosophy, Sorbonne.
Lalande, W. (1967) André Lalande par lui-même, Paris: Vrin. Poirier, R, (1965) ‘André Lalande’, Revue de Métaphysique et Morale: 140-64. Smith, Colin (1964) Contemporary French Philosophy: A Study in Norms and Values, London: Methuen, pp. 101-5, 161-70. Lalande was a rationalist interested in the application of evolutionary theory to philosophy and devoted to the promotion of international communication and an interdependent humanity through his life’s work. He produced a naturalistic and normative conception of reason as an assimilating force within the world’, connecting the idea of evolution with the ideal of the unity of hfe in a stimulating way. In Lldée directrice (1899) he contended that the tendency of evolution is towards the realization of a more complete homogeneity, not heterogeneity, as Spencer and others had held. Even more 'mportant, rational activity in all its forms—in sciences, ethics and art—accounts for progress in assimilation, which is opposed to the disordered variations of life. Science assimilates things to •ttmd, making them intelligible; as civilization advances, the diversity of morals and legislation disappears; and art itself exists only in virtue of a rational communion which gradually embraces humanity as a whole. That assimilation indicates *he true direction of social development is proved, So Lalande maintained, by facts such as egalitarlan trends, dissolution of classes, increasing equality of men and 'v°men and progress in international relations. Lalande’s most influential contributions related,0 his enduring preoccupation with Vocabulaire G926). The basic model of all subsequent dictionaries of philosophical terms, Lalande’s w°rk fostered collective enlightenment and effect,ve communication by providing a unified terminology in philosophy, thereby exemplifying his universalist idea of reason.