Maurice Blondel (French: [blɔ̃dɛl]; 2 November 1861 – 4 June 1949) was a French philosopher, whose most influential works, notably L'Action, aimed at establishing the correct relationship between autonomous philosophical reasoning and Christian belief.
Louis Pierre Althusser (UK: , US: ; French: [altysɛʁ]; 16 October 1918 – 22 October 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher who studied at the École normale supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy.
Althusser was a long-time member and sometimes a strong critic of the French Communist Party (Parti communiste français, PCF). His arguments and theses were set against the threats that he saw attacking the theoretical foundations of Marxism. These included both the influence of empiricism on Marxist theory, and humanist and reformist socialist orientations which manifested as divisions in the European communist parties, as well as the problem of the cult of personality and of ideology. Althusser is commonly referred to as a structural Marxist, although his relationship to other schools of French structuralism is not a simple affiliation and he was critical of many aspects of structuralism. He later described himself as a social anarchist.Althusser's life was marked by periods of intense mental illness. In 1980, he killed his wife, the sociologist Hélène Rytmann, by strangling her. He was declared unfit to stand trial due to insanity and committed to a psychiatric hospital for three years. He did little further academic work, dying in 1990.
René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (Arabic: عبد الـوٰاحد يحيیٰ; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā), was a French-Egyptian intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from esotericism, "sacred science" and "traditional studies" to symbolism and initiation.
In his writings, he claims to hand down eastern religious traditions and adapt them to western readers "while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit".Initiated into Islamic esotericism from as early as 1910 when he was 24, he mainly wrote and published in French, and his works have been translated into more than twenty languages; he also wrote in Arabic an article for the journal Al Marifah.
Pierre Christin (French: [kʁistɛ̃]; born 27 July 1938) is a French comics creator and writer.
Émile Nourry (December 6, 1870 in Autun, France – April 27, 1935 in Paris) was a French publisher, bookseller, and folklorist known under the pen name Pierre Saintyves (P. Saintyves, sometimes incorrectly given as Paul Saintyves).He was President of the Society of French Folklore (Société de folklore français et de folklore colonial), director of Revue du folklore français and Revue anthropologique, as well as Maître de conférences at the School of Anthropology, Paris.P. Saintyves is credited with the hypothesis that many common folktales originate in pagan rituals, published in his Les Contes de Perrault et les récits parallèles, 1923.
Louis Pierre Gratiolet (French: [ɡʁasjɔlɛ]; 6 July 1815 – 16 February 1865) was a French anatomist and zoologist who was a native of Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, Gironde. He succeeded Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1805-1861) as professor of zoology to the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Paris.
Gratiolet is remembered for his work in neuroanatomy, physiognomy and physical anthropology. He did extensive research in the field of comparative anatomy, and performed important studies regarding the differences and similarities between human and various primate brains. He is also credited for introducing the demarcation of the brain's cortical surface into five lobes, (frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe and insular cortex).
With Paul Broca (1824-1880) he performed correlative studies of aphasia and the frontal lobe. Gratiolet was a vocal critic of Broca regarding the latter's belief that a larger brain equated to higher intelligence.
Nicolas-Sylvestre Bergier (French: [bɛʁʒje]; 31 December 1718 – 9 April 1790) was a French Catholic theologian, known for his engagement with the atheist philosophes of eighteenth-century France.
Jean-Joseph Renaud (16 January 1873 – 7 December 1953) was a French épée and foil fencer. He competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.He was also a prolific journalist, author and playwright whose books La Défense dans la rue (Self Defence in the Street - 1912) and L'Escrime (Fencing - 1911) are recognised as an important contribution to early 20th century literature on those subjects. He was a proponent of the field of honor, saying: "From every point of view dueling is beneficent." He refereed many duels (including ones involving Clemenceau and Leon Blum) and fought at least 15 himself (being a fencing master, all but 4 were fought with pistols; he was victorious in all of them).
Félix Léonnec was a French writer and film director, born in 1872 in Brest. He wrote and directed films between 1916 and 1923. He was the brother of cartoonist and illustrator Georges Léonnec. His father was Paul Léonnec, a cartoonist.
Florent Peyre (born 14 May 1980) is a French comedian. He is known for participating in Laurent Ruquier's sketch comedy show On n'demande qu'à en rire.