Simon Jules

Simon, JULES, or JULES FRANQOIS SIMON SUISSE, was born in 1814, and became a teacher at Rennes, whence he passed to the Ecole Normale in Paris at the invitation of Victor Cousin, whom he succeeded as Professor of Philosophy. In 1846 he left literature for politics, founded La Liberte de Penser, and entered the Chamber in 1848, joining the Moderate Left. The coup d'etat for a time excluded him from public life as a teacher or a legislator, but in 1863 he was returned as deputy for the Seine, and at once took the lead of the Ultra-Liberals and Free Traders. In the Government of the Defence he became Minister of Public Instruction, Worship, and Fine Arts, and resumed that post under M. Thiers. In 1875 he was chosen a life senator, and at the end of the year formed a Ministry, which lasted until 1877. In 1879 he opposed Ferry's bill for suppressing non-authorised religious bodies, and he has since taken a strong interest in labour questions and the development of Socialism. He was made an Academician in 1875 and secretary of the Moral Science branch in 1882. His early works deal chiefly with Platonic philosophy; but he has since written many able monographs on public questions.