French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Stanguennec, Ernest Renan. From Idealism to Skepticism
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
André Stanguennec, Ernest Renan: From Idealism to Skepticism, Honoré Champion, "Romanticism and Modernities" collection, 2015. EAN13 : 9782745329141.
320 pages
55 EUR
Renan is neither a positivist for whom truth is yielded only by science, with religion being merely a subjectively necessary complement (Auguste Comte), nor an agnostic-cum-pragmatist who admits the necessity of an "ideal science" while professing absolute confidence in the technical progress of the centuries (Marcelin Berthelot). It is the "romanticism" of his religion of science that separates Renan from these positivist and pragmatist scientists. This is because the envisioned unity of science and religion is as much an ideal of sentiment and imagination as it is of reason. This book is devoted to examining the possibility of these "syntheses"—a term that, for Renan, correlates with that of the "ideal", both constituting his "idealism". The value of this idealism depends on the actual realization of this envisioned unity, carrying the risk—which it may not ultimately escape—of lapsing into a form of skepticism that we must define.
André Stanguennec is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nantes, specializing in the history of modern German philosophy, German Romanticism, and the work of Mallarmé, to whom he has dedicated several books and articles. His metaphysical research on reflexive dialectics earned him the Cardinal Mercier Prize awarded by the Catholic University of Louvain (2011).
The intellectual landscape of nineteenth-century France was deeply marked by shifting boundaries between scientific inquiry, religious sentiment, and philosophical idealism. Figures of this era frequently sought to reconcile the authority of empirical observation with the enduring demands of spiritual life, navigating between orthodox belief and emerging secular thought. Within this broader tradition of intellectual history, discussions of positivism, pragmatism, and Romanticism often highlight the tensions inherent in attempting to unify diverse modes of human understanding.
André Stanguennec is Professor Emeritus at the University of Nantes, specializing in the history of modern German philosophy, German Romanticism, and the work of Mallarmé. He is the author of Ernest Renan: From Idealism to Skepticism, which examines Renan's philosophical trajectory, his distance from Auguste Comte and Marcelin Berthelot, and the risk of skepticism. Readers interested in nineteenth-century French intellectual history and the philosophy of religion may find this volume relevant.
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