Background
Bréhler, Émile was born on April 12, 1876 in Bar-Ie-Duc.
Bréhler, Émile was born on April 12, 1876 in Bar-Ie-Duc.
Taught philosophy at the Universities of Rennes (1909-1912), Bordeaux and Paris (1919-1946). Editor of the Revue Philosophique from 1940. Elected in 1944 to the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.
Bréhier’s histories of philosophy range over the theory of knowledge, ethics, political philosophy and the philosophy of religion. According to Transformation de la philosophie française! 1950) there are two basic approaches, which he characterizes as ‘internal’ and ‘external’, to the study of the history of philosophy. The ‘external’ method is to regard any development in philosophy as a function of changes in social conditions. One example of this is the Marxist approach to philosophy, which regards the discipline as a function of the class war, or of the dominant contemporary social group, and as arising out of the social subconscious. There is, on this ‘external’ approach, no intrinsic or absolute truth to be found in any period of philosophy: instead, truth is regarded as being relative to a particular era, country or social class. Bréhier rejects this approach to the history of philosophy and instead adopts what he calls the ‘internal’ method. Truth is universal and absolute, and the primary quest of any history of philosophy is to determine whether the theories under examination are true. Such theories arise from the reflection or consciousness of particular thinkers, and are attempts to solve the problems of previous philosophical systems. Philosophy arises from, but goes further than, ordinary thought in that it pushes back the boundaries of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with his methodology, Bréhier’s History of Philosophy (1926-1932) deals with philosophical thought mainly on the basis of individual philosophers: in the fifth volume, which deals with the eighteenth century, 11 out of 15 chapters take this approach.