Maine de Biran and Napoleon: A Fragment of the Philosopher’s Path to the “New Anthropology”

Abstract

The paper analyses one of the episodes of the creative path of the ancestor of the 19th-century French spiritualism that was important for the final transformation of his philosophical doctrine. Undoubtedly, some theoretical problems, which did not find a convincing solution in the cognitive process model developed by de Biran, contributed to the transition from a peculiar form of voluntarism to his religious anthropology. However, along with them, among the reasons that determined the formation of de Biran’s late philosophy, are the thoughts of the deputy from Dordogne on the significance of Napoleonic politics for France and Europe. The conclusions that the philosopher comes to encourage him to adopt a very specific interpretation of the meaning of contemporary political events and to amend the general principles of the worldview he defends. De Biran places an individual’s effort of will in the overarching context of religious issues. The contradictions between the two spheres, namely between external and internal life, are explained in his doctrine of the three levels of human existence.