Refonder la philosophie en 1860: Ernest Renan critique de Vacherot

The publication in 1858 of Étienne Vacherot’s (1809–97) La Métaphysique et la science, ou principes de métaphysique positive was the occasion for Ernest Renan to take a stand on the question of philosophy. Whereas Vacherot, influenced by Hegel’s belief in the progress of knowledge, defines philosophy as a science which will be able in a near future to replace all other sciences, Renan insists on giving philosophy a more modest role. For Renan, philosophy, if it is to have a future, has to ground itself on the new sciences: history and philology. However, according to Renan, since philosophy is a set of fixed archetypes its role is not to progress to the point of replacing these sciences but to clarify and to give a general meaning to their discoveries. (MG) (In French)