Background
Dumery, Henry was born on February 29, 1920 in Auzances, Creuse, France.
Dumery, Henry was born on February 29, 1920 in Auzances, Creuse, France.
University of Paris.
Professor, University of Caen, then Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines de Paris-Nanterre (1966).
The three principal influences on his philosophy are: the phenomenological, descriptive method of Edmund Husserl; the metaphysical system of Plotinus and in particular the principle of its ontological hierarchy, namely, the ‘One’ or the Good and the Deity; and Maurice Blondel’s philosophy of action, particularly its doctrine of human uneasiness, fed constantly by an unsatisfied will, that finds fulfilment only in surrender to the authority of Catholicism and in accepting the supernatural life in which God appears to be both transcendent and immanent, the source of whatever is infinite in our will and the ideal that satisfies this will. Duméry has not merely combined the three but he has given them a new meaning which gives a new complexion to the philosophy of religion. He has sought to provide a critique of religion without destroying religious faith. This has led him to formulate a religious metaphysic according to which the transcendent activity of God is both the source and goal of all human thought and action. His philosophy, however, has aroused some controversy: on 4 June 1958 four of his works were censured by the Saint-Office.