Cousin

Cousin, Victor, philosopher (1792-1867), was born at Paris, and educated at the Lycee Charlemagne and the Ecole Normale. Fascinated by the lectures of Laromiguiere and RoyerCollard, he turned his attention almost entirely to philosophical and metaphysical research, becoming in 1815 professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne. Deprived of this post on account of the advanced liberalism of some of his lectures, in 1824 he paid his second visit to Germany, and was imprisoned at Berlin for six months for over-freedom of speech, employing his time in the perusal of German philosophical works. He held office under the government of Louis Philippe, and after an official visit to Germany to inquire into the methods of education there, was created a peer of France soon after his return. As Minister of Public Instruction in 1840 he proved almost a silent member, and after the revolution of 1848 entirely devoted himself to study and writing. His philosophy was eclectic, in its nature spiritualistic, and directly opposed to the sensualistic philosophy of the preceding century. It was based largely on that of Reid and Dugald Stewart, and owed much to Hegel. According to his theory no system was complete, though some truth might be found in all. A complete system could only be formulated by an amalgamation of all that was noblest and best in the different systems into one composite whole. Among his principal works are his translation of Plato, Du, Vrai, du Beau et du Bien, and his Histoire Generale de la Philosophie.