MOUNIER, EMMANUEL. - Philosopher, b. at Grenoble on 1 April 1905, d. at Paris on 22 March 1950.
He abandoned his youthful studies in medicine to devote himself to philosophy, and at Grenoble he was a pupil of J. Chevalier. In 1929, in Paris, the study of the writings of C. Péguy oriented him toward the dynamism of social activity, and in Oct. 1932 he founded the journal Esprit, in order to spread his philosophical and social ideas. In 1936 he launched his program (Le manifeste au service du personnalisme, in Esprit, 4 [1936], pp. 1-210), whose ideas found supporters in France and abroad.
M. left many writings of a critical-religious and philosophical-social character. Among the former: La pensée de Charles Péguy (Paris 1931); L'affrontement chrétien (Neuchâtel 1944); Liberté sous conditions (Paris 1946); Feu la chrétienté (ibid. 1950); in them he makes an examination of Christianity not in theological terms, but in historical-social terms. Among the latter, noteworthy: Revolution personnaliste et communautaire (ibid. 1935; Italian trans., Milan 1949); De la propriété capitaliste à la propriété humaine (ibid. 1936; Italian trans., Brescia 1947); Introduction à l'existentialisme (ibid. 1946); Traité du caractère (ibid. 1946; Italian trans., Alba 1949); Qu'est-ce que le personnalisme (ibid. 1947; Italian trans., Turin 1948).
Of his philosophical thought, known by the term "personalism", M. formulates the following judgment: « il personalismo si distingue rigorosamente dall'individualismo e sottolinea l'inserzione collettiva e cosmica della persona » (A. Lalande, Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie, 5th ed., Paris 1947, p. 738).
Bibliography3 works
Raffaele Garzia