RIBOT. THÉODULE-ARMAND. - Philosopher, born at Guingamp on 18 Dec. 1839, died at Parigi on 9 Dec. 1916. In 1876 he founded the Revue philosophique. From 1885 he was professor of psychology at the Sorbona, and from 1888 at the Collège de France.
He belonged to the positivist school, but, against the excesses of psychophysiology, he emphasized the independence of psychology from metaphysics, seeking to grasp the psychic fact in its irreducible originality, which he found in the will prior to and predominant over the intellectual act (v. SCHOPENHAUER, ARTHUR). He noted the inadequacy of English associationism, especially in its explanation of affective life.
Principal works: La psychologie anglaise contemporaine (Parigi 1870); L'hérédité psychologique (ibid. 1878); La psychologie allemande contemporaine (ibid. 1879); Les maladies de la mémoire (ibid. 1883); Les maladies de la personnalité (ibid. 1885); Psychologie de l'attention (ibid. 1888); Psychologie des sentiments (ibid. 1896); L'évolution des idées générales (ibid. 1897); Essai sur l'imagination créatrice (ibid. 1900); La logique des sentiments (ibid. 1905); Essai sur les passions (ibid. 1907).