HAMELIN, OCTAVE. - Philosopher, born at Lion d'Angers (Maine-et-Loire) on 22 July 1856; died at Hucker (Landes) on 8 Sept. 1907 in a generous attempt at rescue. He taught at the University of Bordeaux (from 1895), then (from 1903) at the Sorbonne.
H. is among the most distinguished representatives of French neo-criticism. A disciple of Renouvier, he shared his starting-point, but arrived at conclusions 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 analytical method (Renouvier) must therefore be integrated with the synthetic method (Hegel): it develops in a series of dialectical positions in which the real is affirmed while at the same time differentiating itself, and whose ultimate term is the constitution of fulfilled being, existing in and for itself and personal: God. H. thus departs from Hegelian idealistic monism, approaching the theistic position.
Principal works: Essai sur les éléments principaux de la représentation (Paris 1907; new ed. there 1925); L'éducation par l'instruction (there 1902); La philosophie analytique de l'histoire de Renouvier (there 1899); Le système de Descartes (there 1910); Le système d'Aristote (there 1920).