Étienne Souriau (; April 26, 1892 – November 19, 1979) was a French philosopher, best known for his work in

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

Biography

Son of Paul Souriau, he studied at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

and received his '' agrégation of philosophy'' in 1925. After teaching at the universities of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

and

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

he eventually became a professor at the Sorbonne, where he held a chair in aesthetics. He was the editor of the '' Revue d'esthétique'' and was elected to the

Académie des sciences morales et politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1958. Recently, the works of

Bruno Latour Bruno Latour (; ; 22 June 1947 – 9 October 2022) was a French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist.Wheeler, Will. ''Bruno Latour: Documenting Human and Nonhuman Associations'' Critical Theory for Library and Information Science. Librari ...

have reawoken interests on Souriau's oeuvre, specially his works on ontology and metaphysics regarding his theories of different modes of existence.

Works

* ''L'Abstraction sentimentale'', 1925 * ''L'Avenir de l'esthétique : essai sur l'objet d'une science naissante'', F. Alcan, Coll. « Biblio. de Philosophie Contemporaine », 1929 * ''L'Instauration philosophique'', 1939 * ''Les Différents modes d'existence, 1943 (new edition 2009) * ''La Correspondance des arts'', 1947 * ''L'Ombre de dieu'', 1955 * ''Poésie française et la Peinture'', 1966 * ''Clefs pour l'esthétique'', 1970 * ''La Couronne d'herbes'', 1975 * ''La Correspondance des arts, science de l'homme: éléments d'esthétique comparée'', 1969 * ''L'Avenir de la philosophie'', Gallimard, coll. « Idées », 1982 * ''Les Deux Cent Mille Situations dramatiques'', Flammarion, Paris, 1950 * ''L'Univers filmique'', 1953 Collaborations * ''Esthétique industrielle'', avec Charles Lalo et d'autres, articles parus dans la ''Revue d'esthétique'', juillet-décembre 1951 * ''Vocabulaire d'esthétique'', avec Anne Souriau, PUF, coll. « Quadrige », 2004

References

* Luce de Vitry-Maubrey, ''La pensée cosmologique d'Étienne Souriau'', Paris, Klincksieck, 1974. 1892 births 1979 deaths People from Lille École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of the University of Lyon Academic staff of the University of Paris French philosophers of art 20th-century French philosophers Members of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers {{france-philosopher-stub