JOUFFROY, THÉODORE. - French philosopher, born at Pontets (Doubs) on 7 July 1796, died in Paris on 1 March 1842. He first studied under the guidance of his uncle, abbé Jouffroy, and then at the Ecole Normale, where he was a pupil of Cousin; later he taught at the Ecole and then at the Collège de France, and from 1833 he was also a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
Initially inspired by Cousin’s eclecticism, he maintained a constant inclination towards introspection and psychological inquiry in a spiritualist sense. Even when he devoted himself to juridical and aesthetic studies, his chief concern was always the study of man, his nature, and his destiny; but he never succeeded in reaching a positive solution. For J., absolute truth is inaccessible. Science can ascertain the reasons for this inaccessibility, determining the limits of its own horizon and contenting itself with relative and human truths. These assertions, frequent in the Mélanges philosophiques, lead one to see in J. a representative of that French eclecticism of the 19th century which, despite its intention of solving the human problem, was unable to free itself from the influence of relativism and scepticism.
Principal writings: Les sentiments du beau et du sublime (Paris 1816); Cours de droit naturel (2 vols., 1st ed., ibid. 1834-35); Mélanges philosophiques (1st ed., ibid. 1833). Posthumous works: Nouveaux mélanges philosophiques (ibid. 1842) and Cours d'esthétique (ibid. 1843); finally, the correspondence (ibid. 1901).