Littre, Maximilien-Paul-Émile

(1801-1881)

   philosopher, philologist, political figure

   A positivist, Maximilien-Paul-Émile Littre was born in Paris, where he first studied medicine. He translated the works of Hippocrates (1839-61) and David Strauss's Life of Jesus (Vie de Jésus, 1839-40), and also worked on an Histoire littéraire de la France (1838). A disciple of auguste comte, he made that philosopher's ideas known through articles in Le National (1844, 1849-51) and by the creation of the Revue de philosophie positive (1867). He still declined, however, to get involved in political or mystical aspects of the positivist movement. Littre worked on the Cours de philosophie positive and attempted to classify the sciences, through an integration of political economy, philosophic psychology, morality, and esthetics (A. Comte et la philosophie positive, 1863; Des origines organiques de la morale, 1870; La Science au point de vue philosophique, 1873). His numerous philological and lexicographic writings led to the publishing of his principal work, Dictionnaire de la langue française (1863-72). A liberal, Littre was elected deputy to the National Assembly (1871) and senator (1875). His election to the Académie Française (after an initial rejection) led to the departure of félix dupanloup. Littre's death was the occasion for great controversy, as his daughter Sophie affirmed that he had been converted to Christianity and had abandoned his pos-itivistic agnosticism.