Frédéric Paulhan (21 April 1856,

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

– 14 March 1931) was a French philosopher. He came from a family of merchants of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

ancestry, and was a brilliant student at school in Nîmes. He left without graduating, and spent a few years without a recognised profession, studying and writing and developing an interest in philosophy and Republican political movements. In 1877 Paulhan contributed to the '' Revue Philosophique'' of

Théodule Ribot Théodule-Augustin Ribot (; August 8, 1823September 11, 1891) was a French realist painter and printmaker. He was born in Saint-Nicolas-d'Attez, and studied at the École des Arts et Métiers de Châlons before moving to Paris in 1845. There ...

. Paulhan became liable for military service when his assigned number was drawn in a lottery, but he was released from serving because of his

stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder characterized externally by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses called blocks in which the person who ...

, which also made it difficult for him to teach. After a political upset in the Nîmes city administration, which favoured Republicans, Paulhan was appointed librarian in 1881. During the years he held this post, Paulhan applied positivist methods to the institution, modernising it. He married Jeanne Thérond in 1884, and that same year their son was born, the future writer and editor

Jean Paulhan Jean Paulhan (2 December 1884 – 9 October 1968) was a French writer, literary critic and publisher, director of the literary magazine '' Nouvelle Revue Française'' (NRF) from 1925 to 1940 and from 1946 to 1968. He was a member (Seat 6, 1963– ...

. Frédéric Paulhan resigned his post in December 1896, affected by political instability in the municipality, and he moved to Paris. Here he continued to write, and he also built up an art collection of etchings, drawings, pastels along with a few paintings, purchased at

auction An auction is usually a process of Trade, buying and selling Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services by offering them up for Bidding, bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from th ...

. This collection was sold in 1934. Paulhan entered the

Academy of Moral and Political Sciences 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 1902, sponsored by Ribot. He was awarded the Prix Jean-Reynaud in 1928. Paulhan was a

freethinker Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...

, a Dreyfusard and possibly a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

; his work has importance in the current of French psychology. Among his books are ''Les caractères'' (1894), ''Les mensonges du caractère'' (1905), ''Le mensonge dans l'art'' (1907) and ''Le mensonge du monde'' (1921). Frédéric Paulhan died on 14 March 1931. He is buried in the cemetery at Bagneux under a headstone carved with Masonic symbols.

References

1856 births 1931 deaths 19th-century French philosophers 20th-century French philosophers French male non-fiction writers Dreyfusards {{France-nonfiction-writer-stub