Jouffroy, THÉODORE SIMON

Jouffroy, THÉODORE SIMON, a French philosopher, was born at Pontets, a village of the Jura, on 7th July 1796. He became a pupil of Cousin, the philosopher, at Paris, and from 1817 onwards taught philosophy at various educational institutions in Paris. Ill-health obliged him in 1838 to exchange his professorial chair for the post of librarian to the university. He died at Paris, 4th February 1842. Jouffroy was not an original thinker, and founded no school. His merit is that he was the lucid interpreter of the teaching of the Scottish philosophers Reid and Dugald Stewart; he translated their works, with critical introductions and notes. His own best books were Mélanges Philosophiques (1833; new ed. 1883), Cours du Droit Naturel (1835), and Cours d'Esthétique (1843; new ed. 1883). A prominent feature of his teaching was the sharp separation of psychology from physiology. For some time Jouffroy was an industrious member of the Chamber of Deputies; he was also well known as a journalist. See Life by Tissot (1876).