Pierre Hyacinthe Azais

Background

Azaïs was born on March 1, 1766 at Sorèze. His father was Pierre Hyacinthe Azaïs (1743-1796), professor of music at Sorèze and Toulouse, and composer of sacred music in the style of Gossec.

Education

Azaïs studied music under his father.

Career

He spent his early years as a teacher and a village organist.

In 1806 that he was able to settle in Paris.

In 1809 he published his great work, Des Compensations dans les destines humaines (5th ed. 1846), which pleased Napoleon so much that he made its author professor at St Cyr.

In 1811 he became inspector of the public library at Avignon, and from 1812 to 1815 he held the same position at Nancy. From that time he occupied himself in lecturing and the publication of philosophical works.

He wrote for the Revue musicale a series of articles entitled Acoustique fondamentale (1831), containing an ingenious, but now exploded, theory of the vibration of the air.

His other works are: Système universel (8 vols. , 1812); Du Sort de l'homme (3 vols. , 1820); Cours de philosophie (8 vols. , 1824), reproduced as Explication universelle (3 vols. , 1826–1828); Jeunesse, maturité, religion, philosophie (1837); De la phrénologie, du magnétisme, et de la folie (1843).

He died on January 22, 1845 in Paris.

Achievements

• Pierre Hyacinthe Azaïs was a French writer, publicist and philosopher, distinguished by an extraordinary breadth of interests, including politics, history, phrenology, magnetism, psychology and even artesian wells. His philosopher optimism was rooted in the idea that human experience is imbued with a natural and harmonious balance between joy and sadness and that it is in this balance that meaning can be discovered.
  
  He is famous for his theory of universal compensation (other names - the theory of universal accentuation, reward system, theory of compensation).
  
  He published about fifty works on philosophical and political topics.
  
  A street Rue Azaïs in Paris was named after him in 1875.

Works

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  • Cours de philosophie générale, ou Explication simple et graduelle de tous les faits de l'ordre physique, de l'ordre physiologique, de l'ordre intellectuel, moral et politique: Tome 8 (French Edition)

    (This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 18...)

  • Jugement philosophique sur Rousseau et Voltaire (French Edition)

    ("Jugement philosophique sur Rousseau et Voltaire" par Pie...)

  • De Napoléon et de la France

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • de La Phrenologie Du Magnetisme Et de La Folie: Ouvrage Dedie a la Memoire de Broussais, Volume 2... (French Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Physiologie Du Bien Et Du Mal: de La Vie Et de La Mort, Du Pass, Du PR Sent, de L'Avenir... (French Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • Des Compensations Dans Les Destinées Humaines (French Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • De La Phrénologie Du Magnétisme Et De La Folie: Ouvrage Dédié À La Mémoire De Broussais, Volume 1... (French Edition)

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • Un Mois de Sejour Dans Les Pyrenees... - Primary Source Edition (French Edition)

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • de La Phr Nologie, Du Magn Tisme Et de La Folie: Ouvrage D Di La M Moire de Broussais... (French Edition)

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

  • SYSTEME UNIVERSEL

    (Paris 1810 Leblanc Garnery. 2 volumes. Sm8vo., 442pp., 25...)

Religion

In his principles of compensation and equilibrium are found also in the physical universe, the product of matter and force, whose cause is God. Force, naturally expansive and operating on the homogeneous atoms which constitute elemental matter, is subject to the law of equilibrium, or equivalence of action and reaction. The development of pheaomena under this law may be divided into three stagesthe physical, the physiological, the intellectual and moral. The immaterial in man is the expansive force inherent in him. Moral and political phenomena are the result of the opposing forces of progress and preservation, and their perfection lies in the fulfilment of the law of equilibrium or universal harmony. This may be achieved in seven thousand years, when man will vanish from the world. In an additional five thousand, a similar equilibrium will obtain in the physical sphere, which will then itself pass away.

Politics

At the outbreak of the French Revolution he viewed it with favor, but was soon disgusted at the violence of its methods. A critical pamphlet drew upon him the hatred of the revolutionists.

The Restoration government at first suspected him as a Bonapartist, but at length granted him a pension.

In the "Compensations" he sought to prove that, on the whole, happiness and misery are equally balanced, and therefore that men should accept the government which is given them rather than risk the horrors of revolution.

Connections

Father:

Pierre Hyacinthe Azaïs

(1743-1796)

References

• La me?moire et l'oblique: Georges Perec autobiographe (French Edition)
• Les Tarnais: Dictionnaire biographique (French Edition)
• P.H. Azai?s, temoin de son temps: D'apre?s son journal ine?dit, 1811-1844 (French Edition)