Jean de Silhon (1596,

Sos, Lot-et-Garonne Sos (; Gascon: ''Sòs'' or ''Sòç'') is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France. See also *Communes of the Lot-et-Garonne department The following is a list of the 319 communes of the French department of Lot-et-G ...

– February 1667,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French philosopher and politician. He was a founding member, and the first to occupy seat 24 of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

in 1634. At

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

's prompting, he defended the concept of reason of state, arguing that the political necessities under which the State operates mean that it need not always follow normal laws of ethics, such as telling the truth. Reason of state was thus, he said, "a mean between that which conscience permits and affairs require."W.F. Church, ''Richelieu and Reason of State'' (Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1973), 168.

References

* 1596 births 1667 deaths People from Lot-et-Garonne French philosophers Members of the Académie Française People of the Ancien Régime French male non-fiction writers {{France-philosopher-stub