The ‘empowered king’ of French spiritualism: Théodore Jouffroy

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is a paradox in the fate of nineteenth-century French philosophy: the ‘eclecticism' or ‘spiritualism' that was university philosophy, championed by Victor Cousin – ‘the king of the philosophers' – and commander of a ‘regiment' of other teacher-philosophers who docilely disseminated his doctrine, is almost entirely absent from today’s canon. Between the familiar figures of Maine de Biran and Bergson, the work of Comte or Tocqueville might be taught and studied but Cousin's work and the work of his followers is ignored. This article turns back to the regiment. By showing how certain spiritualists attempted to philosophically distinguish themselves from their commander, this article views spiritualism as a school developing a programme rather than as a school of (one track) thought. From this perspective, the case of Théodore Jouffroy is of particular interest – initially he and the young Cousin shared a philosophical programme which aimed to scientifically found new forms of psychology. However, Jouffroy evolved in a radically different direction to Cousin. By looking at Jouffroy as an ‘emancipated king of philosophy’, I intend to return to the philosophical rather than simply political meaning of ‘French spiritualism’.