Joseph Frédéric Bérard (4 November 1789 – 16 April 1828) was a French

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

. He was born at

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

Life

Educated at the medical school in Montpellier, he afterwards went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he was employed in connection with the ''Dictionnaire des sciences medicales''. He returned in 1816, and published a work, ''Doctrine medicale de l'école de Montpellier'' (1819), which is indispensable to a proper understanding of the principles of the Vitalistic school, more specifically ''Doctrine medicale de l'école de Montpellier''. In 1823 he was called to a chair of medicine at Paris, which he held for three years; he was then nominated professor of

hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

at Montpellier. His health gave way under his labours, and he died in 1828. His most important book is his ''Doctrines des rapports du physique et du moral'' (Paris, 1823). He held that consciousness or internal perception reveals to us the existence of an immaterial, thinking, feeling and willing subject, the self or soul. Alongside of this there is the vital force, the nutritive Tower, which uses the physical frame as its organ. The

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and the principle of life are in constant reciprocal action, and the first owes to the second, not the formation of its faculties, but the conditions under which they are evolved. He showed himself unable to understand the points of view of those whom he criticized, and yet his own theories, midway between vitalism and

animism Animism (from meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in ...

, are entirely destitute of originality. To the ''Esprit des doctrines medicales de Montpellier'', published posthumously (Paris, 1830), the editor, H. Petiot, prefixed an account of his life and works; see also Damiron, ''Phil. en France an XIX' siècle'' (Paris, 1834); C. J. Tissot, ''Anthropologie générale'' (1843).

References

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berard 1789 births 1828 deaths 19th-century French philosophers Writers from Montpellier 19th-century French physicians 19th-century French writers French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers Physicians from Montpellier