From the History of French Spiritualism: The Philosophy of Jules Lachelier

Abstract

The article examines the philosophical concept of Jules Lachelier – one of the leading representatives of French spiritualism and neo-Kantianism of the 19th – early 20th centuries. Lachelier's teachings were largely associated with the ideas of his predecessors – Maine de Biran and F. Ravaisson. At the same time, it was marked by the strong influence of Kant's philosophy, which determined the originality of this form of spiritualism. Like Biran and Ravaisson, Lachelier relied on “pure psychology”, exploring the facts of consciousness, but highlighted thinking as the only ability to achieve reliable knowledge. Using the method of reflection, thanks to which thinking directly comprehends its own nature and its relationship with phenomena, Lachelier in his work “On the basis of induction” undertook the substantiation of spiritualist realism (Ravaisson's term) as a true philosophy of nature, emphasizing the importance of the law of finite causes, which explains nature and thinking. This concept was developed in the work “Psychology and Metaphysics”, which describes the process of constituting reality by thinking, a process driven by the striving of thinking for ever more complete self-realization and self-knowledge. Thus, the views of Lachelier, who followed his own theoretical path, in the late period turned out to be close to the ideas of the German post-Kantians.