Pierre Sylvain Régis (; 1632–1707) was a French Cartesian philosopher and a prominent critic of

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

. Known as a philosopher, he was nominated to the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

in 1699.''Science and social status: the members of the Académie des Sciences 1666-1750'' By David J. Sturdy, page 302

Life

Born at La Salvetat de Blanquefort, near

Agen Agen (, , ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485. Geography The city of Agen l ...

, he had a classical education, and then went to Paris. He attended the lectures of

Jacques Rohault Jacques Rohault (; 1618 – 27 December 1672) was a French philosopher, physicist and mathematician, and a follower of Cartesianism. Life Rohault was born in Amiens, the son of a wealthy wine merchant, and educated in Paris. Having grown up with ...

, and became a follower of the philosophy of

René Descartes René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...

. He then taught the principles of Cartesianism at

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

(1665),

Aigues-Mortes Aigues-Mortes (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region of southern France. The medieval Ramparts of Aigues-Mortes, city walls surrounding th ...

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 ...

(1671), and Paris (1680). The prohibition issued against the teaching of Cartesianism put an end to his lectures. Régis was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1699. He died in Paris, in 1707.

Works

His major work was his ''Cours entier de philosophie ou Système général selon les principles de Descartes'' (3 vols., Paris, 1690), where he presented in a systematic way the principles of Cartesian philosophy. Opposed to Malebranche's idealism, against which he wrote in the ''

Journal des Savants A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

'' (1693 and 1694), Régis modified the system of Descartes on various points in the direction of

empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...

. He denied that the human soul has innate and eternal ideas, maintained that all ideas are modifications of the soul united to the body, and that the body and extension can be known as immediately as the soul and thought. The ''Cours'' was criticized by

Pierre Daniel Huet P. D. Huetius Pierre Daniel Huet (; ; 8 February 1630 – 26 January 1721) was a French churchman and scholar, editor of the Delphin Classics, founder of the Académie de Physique in Caen (1662–1672) and Bishop of Soissons from 1685 to 1689 ...

and the Parisian Professor Jean Duhamel. Régis then wrote ''Réponse au livre qui a pour titre Censura philosophiæ Cartesianæ'' (Paris, 1691), and ''Réponse aux reflexions critique de M. Duhamel sur le système cartésian de M. Régis'' (Paris, 1692). Among his other works were ''Usage de la raison et de la foi, ou l'accord de la raison et de la foi'', with a ''Réfutation de l'opinion de Spinoza, touchant l'existence et la nature de Dieu''.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Regis, Pierre-Sylvain 17th-century French philosophers 18th-century French philosophers 1632 births 1707 deaths Members of the French Academy of Sciences French male non-fiction writers