Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
SIMON, JULES FRANCOIS (1814–1896)
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: SHA-SIV
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:SIMON, JULES See also:FRANCOIS (1814–1896) , See also:French statesman and philosopher, was See also:born at See also:Lorient on the 27th of See also:December 1814. His See also:father was a See also:linen-See also:draper from See also:Lorraine, who abjured Protestantism before his second See also:marriage, of which Jules Simon was the son, with a See also:Catholic See also:Breton. The See also:family name was Suisse, which Simon dropped in favour of his third prenomen. By dint of considerable See also:sacrifice he was able to attend a See also:seminary at See also:Vannes, and was for a See also:short See also:time See also:usher in a school before, in 1833, he became a student at the Ecole Normale in See also:Paris. There he came in contact with See also:Victor See also:Cousin, who sent him to See also:Caen and then to See also:Versailles to See also:teach See also:philosophy. He helped Cousin, without receiving any recognition, in his See also:translations from See also:Plato, and in 1839 became his See also:deputy in the See also:chair of philosophy at the See also:Sorbonne, with the meagre See also:salary of 83 francs per See also:month. He also lectured on the See also:history of philosophy at the Ecole Normale. At this See also:period he edited the See also:works of See also:Malebranche (2 vols., 1842), of See also:Descartes (1842), See also:Bossuet (1842) and of See also:Arnauld (1843), and in 1844–1845 appeared the two volumes of his Histoire de l'ecole d'Alexandrie. He became a See also:regular contributor to the Revue See also:des deux mondes, and in 1847, with Amedee Jacques and smile See also:Saisset, founded the Liberte de penser, with the intention of throwing off the yoke of Cousin, but he retired when Jacques allowed the insertion of an See also:article advocating the principles of See also:collectivism, with which he was at no time in sympathy. In 1848 he represented the See also:Cotes-du-See also:Nord in the See also:National See also:Assembly, and next See also:year entered the See also:Council of See also:State, but was retired on See also:account of his republican opinions. His refusal to take the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the See also:government of See also: In 1863 he was returned to the See also:Corps Legislatif for the 8th circonscription of the See also:Seine, and supported " See also:les Cinq " in their opposition to the government. He became See also:minister of instruction in the government of National See also:Defence on the 5th of See also:September 1870. After the See also:capitulation of Paris in See also:January 1871 he was sent down to See also:Bordeaux to prevent the resistance of See also:Gambetta to the See also:peace. But at Bordeaux Gambetta, who had issued a See also:proclamation excluding from the elections officials under the See also:Empire, was all powerful. He affected to dispute Jules Simon's See also:credentials, and issued orders for his See also:arrest. Meanwhile Simon had found means of communication with Paris, and on the 6th of See also:February was reinforced by See also:Eugene See also:Pelletan, E. See also:Arago and See also:Garnier-Pages. Gambetta resigned, and the See also:ministry of the Interior, though nominally given to Arago to avoid the See also:appearance of a See also:personal issue, was really in Simon's hands. Defeated in the See also:department of the Seine, he sat for the See also:Marne in the National Assembly, and resumed the See also:portfolio of See also:Education in the first See also:cabinet of M.See also:Thiers's See also:presidency. He advocated See also:free See also:primary education yet sought to conciliate the See also:clergy by all the means in his See also:power; but no concessions removed the hostility of Mgr. See also:Dupanloup, who presided over the See also:commission appointed to consider his draft of an elementary education See also:bill. The reforms he was actually able to carry out were concerned with secondary education. He encouraged the study of living See also:languages, and limited the See also:attention given to the making of Latin See also:verse; he also encouraged See also:independent methods at the Ecole Normale, and set up a school at See also:Rome where members of the French school of See also:Athens should spend some time. He retained See also:office until a See also:week before the fall of Thiers in 1873. He was regarded by the monarchical right as one of the most dangerous obstacles in the way of a restoration, which he did as much as any See also:man (except perhaps the See also:comte de See also:Chambord himself) to prevent, but by the extreme See also:left he was distrusted for his moderate views, and Gambetta never forgave his victory at Bordeaux. In 1875 he became a member of the French See also:Academy and a See also:life senator, and in 1876, on the resignation of M. See also:Dufaure, was summoned to See also:form a cabinet. He replaced See also:anti-republican functionaries in the See also:civil service by republicans, and held his own until the 3rd of May 1877, when he adopted a See also:motion carried by a large See also:majority in the Chamber inviting the cabinet to use all means for the repression of clerical agitation. His clerical enemies then induced See also:Marshal See also:MacMahon to take See also:advantage of a See also:vote on the See also:press See also:law carried in Jules Simon's See also:absence from the Chamber to write him a See also:letter regretting that he no longer preserved his See also:influence in the Chamber, and thus practically demanding his resignation. His resignation in response to this See also:act of the See also:president, known as the " Seize See also:Mai," which he might have resisted by an See also:appeal to the Chamber, proved his ruin, and he never again held office. He justified his See also:action by his fear of providing an opportunity for a coup d'etat on the See also:part of the marshal. The rejection (188o) of article 7 of See also:Ferry's Education Act, by which the profession of teaching would have been forbidden to members of non-authorized congregations, was due to his intervention. He was in fact the See also:chief of the left centre opposed to the radicalism of Jules See also:Grevy and Gambetta. He was director of the Gaulois from 1879 to 1881, and his influence in the See also:country among moderate republicans was retained by his articles in the Matin from 1882 onwards, in the See also:Journal des Debats, which he joined in 1886, and in the Temps from 189o. He left accounts of some of the events in which he had participated in Souvenirs du 4 septembre (1874), Le Gouvernement de M. Thiers (2 vols., 1878), in Memoires des autres (1889), Nouveaux memoires des autres (1891) and Les Derniers memoires des autres (1897), while his See also:sketch of Victor Cousin (1887) was a further contribution to See also:con-temporary history. For his personal history the Premiers memoires (1900) and Le Soir de ma journee (1902), edited by his son Gustave Simon, may be supplemented by See also:Leon Seche's Figures bretonnes, Jules Simon, sa See also:vie, son ceuvre (new ed., 1898), and G. Picot, Jules Simon: See also:notice historique . (1897); also by many references to periodical literature and collected essays in See also:Hugo P. Thieme's See also:Guide bibliographique de la litt. See also:franc. de 1800 a 1906 (1907). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] SIMON, ABRAHAM (1622-1692) |
[next] SIMON, RICHARD (1638–1712) |