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Brief Lives

Maine de Biran (1766-1824)

Benjamin Bâcle finds Maine de Biran’s idea of the self-willing self to be underrated.

If you come across any French person and ask them about René Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Jean Paul Sartre, the chances are they’ll say the name rings a bell. If you ask them about Maine de Biran, first they’ll say ‘Pardon?’, and upon you repeating the three odd words, they’ll go blank – unless they belong to the chosen few who happen to have been schooled at the Lycée Maine de Biran in Bergerac. But you’d have to be pretty lucky to stumble upon them; and, indeed, to be in a situation where the name ‘Maine de Biran’ would be likely to occur at all.

The truth is, Biran is not your average bestselling philosopher. Having published very little in his lifetime (29 November 1766–20 July 1824), he rose to only relative philosophical prominence in the nineteenth century thanks to the posthumous publication of his extensive manuscripts.

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