Joseph Frédéric Bérard
Encyclopedia
Joseph Frédéric Bérard French
physician
and philosopher, was born at Montpellier
.
Educated at the medical school of that town, he afterwards went to Paris
, where he was employed in connexion with the Dictionnaire des sciences medicales. He returned in 1816, and published a work, Doctrine medicale de l'école de Montpellier (1819), which is indispensable to a proper understanding of the principles of the Vitalistic school
.
In 1823 he was called to a chair of medicine at Paris, which he held for three years; he was then nominated professor of hygiene at Montpellier. His health gave way under his labours, and he died in 1828. His most important book is his Doctrines des rapports du physique et du moral (Paris, 1823).
He held that consciousness or internal perception reveals to us the existence of an immaterial, thinking, feeling and willing subject, the self or soul. Alongside of this there is the vital force, the nutritive Tower, which uses the physical frame as its organ. The soul
and the principle of life are in constant reciprocal action, and the first owes to the second, not the formation of its faculties, but the conditions under which they are evolved. He showed himself unable to understand the points of view of those whom he criticized, and yet his own theories, midway between vitalism and animism
, are entirely destitute of originality.
To the Esprit des doctrines medicales de Montpellier, published posthumously (Paris, 1830), the editor, H. Petiot, prefixed an account of his life and works; see also Damiron
, Phil. en France an XIX' siècle (Paris, 1834); C. J. Tissot, Anthropologie générale (1843).
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France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and philosopher, was born at Montpellier
Montpellier
-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....
.
Educated at the medical school of that town, he afterwards went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he was employed in connexion with the Dictionnaire des sciences medicales. He returned in 1816, and published a work, Doctrine medicale de l'école de Montpellier (1819), which is indispensable to a proper understanding of the principles of the Vitalistic school
Vitalism
Vitalism, as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is#a doctrine that the functions of a living organism are due to a vital principle distinct from biochemical reactions...
.
In 1823 he was called to a chair of medicine at Paris, which he held for three years; he was then nominated professor of hygiene at Montpellier. His health gave way under his labours, and he died in 1828. His most important book is his Doctrines des rapports du physique et du moral (Paris, 1823).
He held that consciousness or internal perception reveals to us the existence of an immaterial, thinking, feeling and willing subject, the self or soul. Alongside of this there is the vital force, the nutritive Tower, which uses the physical frame as its organ. The soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
and the principle of life are in constant reciprocal action, and the first owes to the second, not the formation of its faculties, but the conditions under which they are evolved. He showed himself unable to understand the points of view of those whom he criticized, and yet his own theories, midway between vitalism and animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
, are entirely destitute of originality.
To the Esprit des doctrines medicales de Montpellier, published posthumously (Paris, 1830), the editor, H. Petiot, prefixed an account of his life and works; see also Damiron
Jean Philibert Damiron
Jean-Philibert Damiron was a French philosopher.-Biography:Damiron was born at Belleville. At nineteen he entered the normal school, where he studied under Eugène Burnouf, Abel-Francois Villemain, and Victor Cousin...
, Phil. en France an XIX' siècle (Paris, 1834); C. J. Tissot, Anthropologie générale (1843).
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