MOUNIER, EMMANUEL. — Philosopher, b. Grenoble 1 Apr. 1905, d. Paris 22 Mar. 1950. He abandoned early medical studies to devote himself to philosophy and at Grenoble was a pupil of J. Chevalier. In 1929, in Paris, the study of C. Péguy’s writings turned him toward the dynamism of social activity, and in Oct. 1932 he founded the journal *Esprit* to disseminate his philosophical and social ideas. In 1936 he launched his programme (*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 socio-philosophical character. Among the former: *La pensée de Charlemagne* (Paris 1931); *L’affrontement chrétien* (Neuchâtel 1944); *Liberté sous conditions* (Paris 1946); *Feu la chrétienté* (ibid. 1950); in these he examines Christianity not in theological terms but in socio-historical ones. Among the latter noteworthy are: *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: “personalism is rigorously distinguished from individualism and emphasizes the collective and cosmic insertion of the person” (*A. Lalande, Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie*, 5th ed., Paris 1947, p. 738).
MOVIMENTO DEI GRUPPI DI OXFORD:
V. BUCHMANISMO.