Editing Paul Janet (section)

==Biography==
Born in [[Paris, France|Paris]], he became professor of [[moral philosophy]] at [[University of Bourges|Bourges]] (1845–1848) and [[Strasbourg]] (1848–1857), and of logic at the ''lycée Louis-le-Grand'', Paris (1857–1864). In 1864 he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], and elected a member of the academy of moral and political sciences.

He wrote widely on philosophy, politics and ethics, on idealistic lines: ''La Famille'', ''Histoire de la philosophie dans l'antiquité et dans le temps moderne'', ''Histoire de la science politique'', ''Philosophie de la Revolution Française'', etc. However, in the opinion of ''[[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica|Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (11th edition, 1911), these writings are not characterised by much originality of thought. In philosophy he was a follower of [[Victor Cousin]], and through him of [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G. W. F. Hegel]]. His principal work, ''Théorie de la morale'', owes much to [[Immanuel Kant]].

[[Charles Darwin]] was familiar with Janet's ideas, but thought that he had not well understood the theory of [[natural selection]], as he indicated in a letter of 1866 to [[Alfred Russel Wallace]]:<ref>{{cite book| isbn= 978-0-521-87412-0 | title = Evolution: Selected letters of Charles Darwin 1860–1870 | editor = Burkhardt, F.|editor2=Evans, S. |editor3=Pearn, A. | publisher = Cambridge University Press  |  pages = 146–148 | year = 2008}}</ref>
<blockquote> As for M. Janet he is a metaphysician & such gentlemen are so acute that I think they often misunderstand common folk.</blockquote>

=== Works ===
*''The Materialism of the Present Day, a Critique of Dr. Büchner's System'', London: Williams and Norgate, 1865 (translated of the original French work into English by [[George Joseph Gustave Masson|George Masson]]), {{ISBN|1152057863}}