Hamel, Octave. - Philosopher, b. at Lion d'Angers (Maine-et-Loire), 22 July 1856, d. at Hucker (Landes), 8 Sept. 1907 in a generous rescue attempt. He taught at the University of Bordeaux (from 1895), then (from 1903) at the Sorbonne.
H. is among the most prominent representatives of French neocriticism. A disciple of Renouvier, he shares with him the point of departure, but arrives at results that bring him close to Hegel no less than to his master. The world is essentially a complex of relations, and reality is determined through the constructive process of the categories, rational forms of the real. The analytic method (Renouvier) must therefore be integrated with the synthetic method (Hegel): it unfolds in a series of dialectical positions in which the real is affirmed, while being distinguished, and whose ultimate term is the constitution of complete being, existing in itself and personal, God. H. thus departs from Hegelian idealistic monism, drawing nearer to the theistic position.
Principal works: *Essai sur les éléments principaux de la représentation* (Paris 1907; new ed. 1925); *L'éducation par l'instruction* (ibid. 1902); *La philosophie analytique de l'histoire de Renouvier* (ibid. 1899); *Le système de Descartes* (ibid. 1910); *Le système d'Aristote* (ibid. 1920).