Reid and his French Disciples: Aesthetics and Metaphysics

This text opens with a detailed account of Thomas Reid’s expressionist aesthetic theory, integrating it into his metaphysical, epistemological and metaphilosophical viewpoints, each of which is examined closely in turn. It then traces the influence which Reid, an 18th century Scottish thinker, exercised on 19th century French philosophy, an influence which proves considerable. Victor Cousin, the most significant philosophical figure in post-Napoleonic France, was profoundly impressed by Reid’s thinking. The author demonstrates the depth and extent of his dependence in epistemological, metaphysical and aesthetic matters. He then pursues Cousin’s (hence Reid’s) legacy through three succeeding generations of French academics and intellectuals, focusing throughout on the development of the expressionist aesthetic. Principal among these heritors are Theodore Jouffroy, Charles Leveque and Sully-Prudhomme.