Charles de Villers
Encyclopedia
Charles François Dominique de Villers (4 November 1765 – 26 February 1815) was a French philosopher. He was mainly responsible for translating the philosophy of Immanuel Kant
into the French language.
, France. He studied at the Benedictine College in Metz
, and then became a student of the School of Applied Artillery of Metz. He attained the rank of captain. Like other officers of that era, such as the artillery colonel Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet of Puysegur, he became interested in animal magnetism
.
After the horrors of the French Revolution
, Villers moved to Germany and there in Göttingen
in 1794 befriended the German intellectual Dorothea von Schlözer and her husband, the Mayor Mattheus Rodde. The Rodde-Schlözer home was a centre for intellectuals across Europe. Dorothea was a pioneering female intellectual, the first woman to gain a doctors degree in Germany. Villers moved in with the Rodde-Schlözers in 1797 and they lived semi publicly as a menage a trois
the rest of their lives. Villers' French nationality was able to preserve the household from the worst ravages of the French occupation in 1806. He reported these catastrophic events in his Lettre à Mme la Comtesse de Beauharnais, Fanny, contenant un récit des événements qui se sont passés à Lübeck dans le journées du jeudi 6 novembre 1806 et les suivantes.
In 1811, Villers was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the Georg-August University of Göttingen
. In 1814, after the downfall of the Kingdom of Westphalia
, he was promptly sacked by the Government of the Kingdom of Hanover
.
He died in Göttingen
in 1815 aged fiftyone.
to the French speaking world. He portrayed the revolution in ideas produced by Kant as being as important in its significnace as that produced by Descartes
, Lavoisier
and Copernicus
.
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
into the French language.
Life
Villers was born in Boulay-MoselleBoulay-Moselle
Boulay-Moselle is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-References:*...
, France. He studied at the Benedictine College in Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
, and then became a student of the School of Applied Artillery of Metz. He attained the rank of captain. Like other officers of that era, such as the artillery colonel Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet of Puysegur, he became interested in animal magnetism
Animal magnetism
Animal magnetism , in modern usage, refers to a person's sexual attractiveness or raw charisma. As postulated by Franz Mesmer in the 18th century, the term referred to a supposed magnetic fluid or ethereal medium believed to reside in the bodies of animate beings...
.
After the horrors of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, Villers moved to Germany and there in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
in 1794 befriended the German intellectual Dorothea von Schlözer and her husband, the Mayor Mattheus Rodde. The Rodde-Schlözer home was a centre for intellectuals across Europe. Dorothea was a pioneering female intellectual, the first woman to gain a doctors degree in Germany. Villers moved in with the Rodde-Schlözers in 1797 and they lived semi publicly as a menage a trois
Ménage à trois
Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...
the rest of their lives. Villers' French nationality was able to preserve the household from the worst ravages of the French occupation in 1806. He reported these catastrophic events in his Lettre à Mme la Comtesse de Beauharnais, Fanny, contenant un récit des événements qui se sont passés à Lübeck dans le journées du jeudi 6 novembre 1806 et les suivantes.
In 1811, Villers was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the Georg-August University of Göttingen
Georg-August University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen , known informally as Georgia Augusta, is a university in the city of Göttingen, Germany.Founded in 1734 by King George II of Great Britain and the Elector of Hanover, it opened for classes in 1737. The University of Göttingen soon grew in size and popularity...
. In 1814, after the downfall of the Kingdom of Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...
, he was promptly sacked by the Government of the Kingdom of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
.
He died in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
in 1815 aged fiftyone.
Significance
Villers was significant as the individual who explained the works of Immanuel KantImmanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
to the French speaking world. He portrayed the revolution in ideas produced by Kant as being as important in its significnace as that produced by Descartes
René Descartes
René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
, Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...
and Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....
.
Works
- Le Magnétiseur amoureux (1787). Réédition : Vrin, Paris, 2006.
- De la Liberté : son tableau et sa définition ; ce qu'elle est dans la société ; moyens de l'y conserver (1791)
- Lettres Westphaliennes (1797)
- Notice littéraire sur M. Kant et sur l'état de la métaphysique en Allemagne au moment où ce philosophe a commencé d'y faire sensation (1798)
- Idée de ce que pourrait être une histoire universelle dans les vues d'un citoyen du monde (1798)
- Critique de la raison pure (1799). Résumé de l'œuvre de Kant.
- Philosophie de Kant, ou Principes fondamentaux de la philosophie transcendentale (1801)
- Lettre de Charles Villers à Georges CuvierGeorges CuvierGeorges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...
sur une nouvelle théorie du cerveau, par le Dr Gall, ce viscère étant considéré comme l'organe immédiat des facultés morales (1802) - Esquisse de l'histoire de l'Église, depuis son fondateur jusqu'à la réformation, pour servir d'Appendice à l'Essai sur l'esprit et l'influence de la réformation de Luther (1804)
- Essai sur l'esprit et l'influence de la réformation de Luther, ouvrage qui a remporté le prix sur cette question proposée dans la séance publique du 15 germinal an X, par l'Institut national de France : Quelle a été l'influence de la réformation de Luther sur la situation politique des différens États de l'Europe, et sur le progrès des lumières ? (1804)
- Lettre à Mme la comtesse Fanny de BeauharnaisFanny de BeauharnaisFanny de Beauharnais, née Marie-Anne-Françoise Mouchard, was a French lady of letters. She was the mother of French politician Claude de Beauharnais...
, contenant un récit des événements qui se sont passés à LübeckLübeckThe Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
dans les journées du jeudi 6 novembre 1806 et les suivantes (1807) - Coup d'œil sur les universités et le mode d'instruction publique de l'Allemagne protestante, en particulier du royaume de Westphalie (1808)
- Constitutions des trois villes libres-anséatiques, Lubeck, Bremen et Hambourg. Avec un mémoire sur le rang que doivent occuper ces villes dans l'organisation commerciale de l'Europe (1814)
- Précis historique sur la présentation de la Confession d'Augsbourg à l'empereur Charles-Quint, par plusieurs princes, états et villes d'Allemagne, ouvrage posthume de Mr Charles de Villers, suivi du texte de la Confession d'Augsbourg. Nouvelle traduction française, accompagnée de notes (1817)
Sources
- M. Isler: Letters to Ch de Villers. Auswahl aus dem handschriftlichen Nachlasse des Ch. de Villers . Selection from the estate of the handwritten Ch de Villers. Hamburg, 1883. Hamburg, 1883.
- Oskar Ulrich: Charles de Villers. Oscar Ulrich: Charles de Villers. Sein Leben und seine Schriften ; ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der geistigen Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich . His life and his writings, a contribution to the history of the intellectual relations between Germany and France. Leipzig, 1899. Leipzig, 1899.
- Louis Wittmer: Charles de Villers (1765–1815). Louis Wittmer: Charles de Villers (1765–1815). Un intermédiaire entre la France et l'Allemagne et un précureur de Mme de Staël . Un intermédiaire entre la France et l'Allemagne et un précureur de Mme de Staël. Genève ; Paris, 1908 Geneva, Paris, 1908
- Peter Winterling: Rückzug aus der Revolution, e. Unters. Peter Winterling: Withdrawal from the revolution, e. Unters. zum Deutschlandbild u. zur Literaturtheorie bei Madame de Staël u. Charles de Villers . the image of Germany and the literary theory of Madame de Stael and Charles de Villers. Rheinfelden: Schäuble, 1985. ISBN 3-87718-763-3 . Rheinfelden: Schäuble, 1985. ISBN 3-87718-763-3.
- Kurt Kloocke (Hrsg.): Correspondance Madame de Staël ; Charles de Villers; Benjamin Constant . Kurt Kloock (ed.), Correspondance Madame de Stael, Charles de Villers, Benjamin Constant. Etablissement du texte, introd. Etablissement du texte, introd. et notes par Kurt Kloocke avec le concours d'un groupe d'étudiants. et notes par Kurt Kloock avec le concours d'un groupe d'étudiants. Frankfurt am Main; Berlin; Bern; New York; Paris; Wien: Lang, 1993. ISBN 3-631-46107-0 . Frankfurt, Berlin, Bern, New York, Paris, Wien: Lang, 1993. ISBN 3-631-46107-0.
- Hermann Krapoth: in Biographisches Lexikon für Schleswig-Holstein und Lübeck, Bd. 10, Villers . Hermann Krapoth: in Biographical Dictionary of Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck, Volume 10, Villers. Neumünster 1994. ISBN 3-529-02650-6 Neumünster 1994th ISBN 3-529-02650-6