Alfred Espinas
Encyclopedia
Alfred Victor Espinas was a French thinker noted for having been an influence on Nietzsche. He was a student
of Comte
and Spencer
. Although initially an adherent of positivism
, he later became a committed realist.
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
of Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
and Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
. Although initially an adherent of positivism
Positivism
Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....
, he later became a committed realist.
Works
- Des sociétés animales (1877)
- Les origines de la technologie (1897)
- La philosophie sociale an XVIIIe siècle et la Revolution (1898)
- Descartes et la morale: Etudes sur l'histoire de la philosophie de l'action (1925)