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MAINE DE BIRAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 442 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAINE DE BIRAN , See also:FRANcOIS-See also:PIERRE-GONTHIER (1766-1824), See also:French philosopher, was See also:born at See also:Bergerac, on the 29th of See also:November, 1766. The name Maine he assumed (some See also:time before 1787) from an See also:estate called Le Maine, near Mouleydier. After studying with distinction under the See also:doctrinaires of Perigueux, he entered the See also:life-See also:guards of See also:Louis XVI., and was See also:present at See also:Versailles on the memorable 5th and 6th of See also:October 1789. On the breaking up of the gardes du See also:corps Biran retired to his patrimonial See also:inheritance of Grateloup, near Bergerac, where his retired life preserved him from the horrors of the Revolution. It was at this See also:period that, to use his own words, he " passed per saltum from frivolity to See also:philosophy." He began with See also:psychology, which he made the study of his life. After the Reign of Terror Maine de Biran took See also:part in See also:political affairs. Having been excluded from the See also:council of the Five See also:Hundred on suspicion of royalism, he took part with his friend Laine in the See also:commission of 1813, which gave expression for the first time to See also:direct opposition to the will of the See also:emperor. After the Restoration he held the See also:office of treasurer to the chamber of deputies, and habitually retired during the autumn See also:recess to his native See also:district to pursue his favourite study. He died on the loth (16th, or 23rd, according to others) of See also:July 1824. Maine de Biran's philosophical reputation has suffered from two causes—his obscure and laboured See also:style, and the fact that only a few, and these the least characteristic, of his writings appeared during his lifetime. These consisted of the See also:essay on See also:habit (Sur l'See also:influence de l'habitude, 1803), a See also:critical See also:review of P. Laromiguiere's lectures (1817), and the philosophical portion of the See also:article " See also:Leibnitz " in the Biographie universelle (1819).

A See also:

treatise on the See also:analysis of thought (Sur la decomposition de la pensee), although sent to See also:press, was never, printed. In 1834 these writings, together with the essay entitled Nouvelles considerations sur See also:les rapports du physique et du moral de l'homme, were published by See also:Victor See also:Cousin, who in 1841 added three volumes, under the See also:title fEuvres philosophiques de Maine de Biran. But the publication (in 1859) by E. Naville (from See also:MSS. placed at his See also:father's disposal by Biran's son) of the Euvres inedites de Maine de Biran, in three volumes, first rendered possible a connected view of his philosophical development. At first a sensualist, like See also:Condillac and See also:Locke, next an intellectualist, he finally shows himself a mystical theosophist. The Essai sur les fondements de la psychologie represents the second or completest See also:stage of his philosophy, the fragments of the Nouveaux essais d'anthropologie the third. Maine de Biran's first essays in philosophy were written avowedly from the point of view of Locke and Condillac, but even in them he was brought to signalize the essential fact on which his later See also:speculation turns. Dealing with the formation of habits, he is compelled to See also:note that passive impressions, however transformed, do not furnish a See also:complete or adequate explanation. With Laromiguiere he distinguishes See also:attention as an active effort, of no less importance than the passive receptivity of sense, and with See also:Butler distinguishes passively formed customs from active habits. He finally arrived at the conclusion that Condillac's notion of passive receptivity as the one source of conscious experience was not only an See also:error in fact but an error of method—in See also:short, that the See also:mechanical mode of viewing consciousness as formed by See also:external influence was fallacious and deceptive. For it he proposed to substitute the genetic method, whereby human conscious experience might be exhibited as growing or developing from its essential basis in connexion with external conditions. The essential basis he finds in the real consciousness, of self as an active striving See also:power, and the stages of its development, corresponding to what one may See also:call the relative importance of the external conditions and the reflective clearness of self-consciousness he designates as the affective, the perceptive and the reflective.

In connexion with this Biran treats most of the obscure problems which arise in dealing with conscious experience, such as the mode by which the organism is cognized, the mode by which the organism is distinguished from extra-organic things, and the nature of those See also:

general ideas by which the relations of things are known to us—cause, power, force, &c. In the latest stage of his speculation Biran distinguishes the See also:animal existence from the human, under which the three forms above noted are classed, and both from the life of the spirit, in which human thought is brought into relation with the supersensible, divine See also:system of things. This stage is See also:left imperfect. Altogether Biran's See also:work presents a very remarkable specimen of deep See also:meta-See also:physical thinking directed by preference to the psychological aspect of experience. The tEuvres inedites of Maine de Biran by E. Naville contain an See also:introductory study; in 1887 appeared See also:Science et psychologie: nouvelles xuvres inedites, with introduction by A. See also:Bertrand. See also O. Merton, Etude critique sur Maine de Biran (1865); E. Naville, Maine de Biran, sa See also:vie et ses pensees (1874); J. See also:Gerard, Maine de Biran, essai sur sa philosophie (1876); Mayonade, Pensees et pages inedites de Maine de Biran (Perigueux, 1896) ; G. Allievo, " Maine de Biran e la sua dottrina antropologica " (See also:Turin, 1896, in Memorie dell' accademia delle scienze, 2nd See also:ser., xlv, pt.

2); A. See also:

Lang, Maine de Biran and See also:die neuere Philosophic (See also:Cologne, 1901); monographs by A. Kuhtmann (See also:Bremen, 1901) and M. Couailhac (1905); N. E. Truman in Cornell Studies in Philosophy, No. 5 (1904) on Maine de Biran's Philosophy of Will. MAINE-ET-See also:LOIRE, a See also:department of western See also:France, formed in 1790 for the most part out of the See also:southern portion of the former See also:province of See also:Anjou, and bounded N. by the departments of See also:Mayenne and See also:Sarthe, E. by See also:Indre-et-Loire, S.E. by See also:Vienne, S. by Deux-Sevres and See also:Vendee, W. by Loire-Inferieure, and N.W. by Ille-et-Vilaine. See also:Area, 2786 sq. m. Pop. (19(26), 513,490. Maine-et-Loire is made up of two distinct regions, the See also:line of demarcation See also:running roughly from See also:north to See also:south along the valley of the Sarthe, then turning south-See also:west and passing See also:Brissac and Doue; that to the west consists of granites, felspars, and a continuation of the See also:geological formations of See also:Brittany and Vendee; to the See also:east, See also:schists, See also:limestone and See also:chalk prevail.

The department is traversed from east to west by the majestic valley of the Loire, with its See also:

rich orchards, nurseries and See also:market-gardens. The highest altitudes are found in the south-west, where north-east of See also:Cholet one See also:eminence reaches 689 ft. Else-where the See also:surface is See also:low and undulating in See also:character. The department belongs entirely to the See also:basin of the Loire, the See also:bed of which is wide but shallow, and full of islands, the See also:depth of the See also:water in summer being at some places little more than 2 ft. Floods are sudden and destructive. The See also:chief affluent of the Loire within the department is the Maine, formed a little above See also:Angers by the junction of the Mayenne and the Sarthe, the latter having previously received the See also:waters of the Loire. All three are navigable. Other tributaries of the Loire are theThouet (with its tributary the Dive), the Layon, the Evre, and the Divatte on the left, and the Authion on the right. The Mayenne is joined on the right by the Oudon, which can be navigated below Segre. The Erdre, which joins the Loire at See also:Nantes, and the Moine, a tributary of the Sevre-Nantaise, both rise within this department. The See also:climate is very mild. The mean See also:annual temperature of Angers is about 53°, slightly exceeding that of See also:Paris; the rainfall (between 23 and 24 in. annually) is distinctly See also:lower than that of the See also:rest of France.

Notwithstanding this deficiency, the frequent fogs, combined with the See also:

peculiar nature of the See also:soil in the south-east of the department, produce a degree of moisture which is highly favourable to meadow growths. The See also:winter colds are never severe, and readily permit the cultivation of certain trees which cannot be reared in the adjoining departments. The See also:agriculture of the department is very prosperous. The produce of cereals, chiefly See also:wheat, oats and See also:barley, is in excess of its needs, and potatoes and mangels also give See also:good returns. Extensive areas in the valley of the Loire are under See also:hemp, and the vegetables, melons and other fruits of that region are of the finest quality. Good See also:wine is produced at Serrant and other places near Angers, and on the right See also:bank of the Layon and near See also:Saumur, the sparkling See also:white wine of which is a See also:rival of the cheaper brands of See also:champagne. See also:Cider is also produced, and the cultivation of See also:fruit is general. Forests and woodland in which See also:oak and See also:beech are the chief trees See also:cover large tracts. The fattening of See also:cattle is an important See also:industry See also:round Cholet, and horses much used for See also:light See also:cavalry are reared. Several thousand workmen are employed in the See also:slate quarries in the vicinity of Angers, tufa is worked in the See also:river valleys, and freestone and other See also:stone, See also:mispickel, See also:iron and See also:coal are also found. Cholet, the chief See also:industrial See also:town, and its district manufacture See also:pocket-handkerchiefs, as well as See also:linen cloths, flannels, See also:cotton goods, and hempen and other coarse fabrics, and similar See also:industries are carried on at Angers, which also manufactures See also:liqueurs, rope, boots and shoes and parasols. Saumur, besides its See also:production of wine, makes beads and enamels.

The See also:

commerce of Maine-et-Loire comprises the exportation of live stock and of the various, products of its soil and industries, and the importation of hemp, cotton, and other raw materials. The department is served by the See also:railways of the See also:state and the See also:Orleans and Western companies. The Mayenne, the Sarthe and the Loir, together with some of the lesser See also:rivers, provide about 130 M. of navigable waterway. In the south-east the See also:canal of the Dive covers some to m. in the department. There are five arrondissements—Angers, Bauge, Cholet, Saumur and Segre, with 34 cantons and 381 communes. Maineet-Loire belongs to the academie (educational See also:division) of See also:Rennes, to the region of the VIII. See also:army corps, and to the ecclesiastical province of See also:Tours. Angers (q.v.), the See also:capital, is the seat of a bishopric and of a See also:court of See also:appeal. Other See also:principal places are Cholet, Saumur, and See also:Fontevrault, which receive See also:separate treatment. For architectural See also:interest there may also be mentioned the chateaux of Brissac (17th See also:century), Serrant (15th and 16th centuries), See also:Montreuil-Bellay (14th and 15th centuries), and Ecuille (15th century), and the churches of See also:Puy-Notre-See also:Dame (13th century) and St Florent-le-Vieil (13th, 17th, and 19th centuries), the last containing the See also:fine See also:monument to See also:Charles See also:Bonchamps, the Vendean See also:leader, by See also:David d'Angers. Gennes has remains of a See also:theatre and other ruins of the See also:Roman period, as well as two churches dating in part from the loth century. Ponta-de-a, an interesting old town built partly on islands in the Loire, is historically important, because till the Revolution its See also:bridges formed the only way across the Loire between Saumur and Nantes.

End of Article: MAINE DE BIRAN

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