Classical scholar and historian of philosophy at France's Ecole Normale Superieure, Alfred Fouillee (1838-1912) heralded the science of psychology as philosophers' sole path to social and political relevance in the modern age, and sought for French society the philosophically based morale that her polarized political tradition seemed unable to provide. His theory of idees-forces identified rationality with an irreducible yet conscious will, lent precision philosophical idealism's often vague exaltation of individual freedom, and promoted psychologically informed discussions about the proper ideals for the French Third Republic. Examined here is the evolution of Fouillee's thought from his earliest writings until his death: the genesis and elaboration of his idealist psychology, its later extension to social and ethical thought, Fouillee's defense of the classical lycee curriculum, and his repudiation of both unphilosophical sociology and the "anti-intellectualism" of the early twentieth century. Alert to both science's potential and its limitations, Fouillee held that modernizing societies like France would adequately define social justice and individual dignity only by joining ancient philosophy's metaphysical impulse and public spiritedness with modernity's liberal precepts.

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Matière et mémoire de Bergson est largement inspirée des idées psychologiques du 19e siècle. Nous restituons le contexte psychologique afin de montrer que la psychologie contemporaine pousse Bergson à s’engage dans la lutte contre Kant et à développer sa propre pensée ; discerner et prolonger extrêmement les mouvements. Le premier chapitre porte sur la notion de « plans de conscience ». Nous montrerons dans quelle mesure Bergson reprend les discours des psychologues associationnistes et des psychologues pathologiques (notamment Pierre Janet) sur le déroulement des idées. Ce détour nous permettra de cerner les enjeux proprement bergsoniens de la notion de plans de conscience : il s’agira de discerner les mouvements sui generis de la mémoire.Les deux chapitres suivants essaient de pénétrer dans le domaine de la psychologie physiologique ; le développement de la notion d’action réflexe cérébrale modifie le problème du rapport entre le mouvement et le moi qui en est la cause, de sorte qu’il met en question la notion de la causalité (Carpenter Laycock et Ribot) ; Fouillée transforme le problème psychologique en celui de la condition de donnée. Tout cela met en lumière la polémique essentielle entre Bergson et Kant ; Bergson a tiré des conceptions psychologiques une implication philosophique qui destitue le fondement de la Déduction kantienne : il remplace la limitation kantienne de la réalité phénoménale par le prolongement démesuré d’un mouvement dans un fait, et ce jusqu’à une perception universelle en droit. Ce dernier point sera le cardinal de notre interprétation. Le dernier chapitre porte sur le sens de l’être dans la critique bergsonienne de l’idée de non-être de l’Évolution créatrice, qui éclaircira le rapport entre la détermination et l’existence et qui profile une conception bergsonienne de la réalité comme mouvements. / Matter and memory of Bergson is considerably inspired by psychological ideas of 19th century. We reproduce the psychological context to clarify how the psychology of the same period urges Bergson to entered into a struggle against Kant and to develop his own thought: discerning and prolong movements.The first chapter is concerned with a notion of “plans of consciousness”. We point out to what extent Bergson takes up views of assimilationists and the pathological psychology (especially that of Pierre Janet) about development of ideas. This detour allows us to define distinctively Bergsonian point of the notion of “plans of consciousness” : it consists in discerning different movements of memory.The next two chapters set about inquiring into a domain of physiological psychology. The development of a notion of reflex action modified the problem of relation between a movement and the I which is its cause and how the notion of causality constitutes the central difficulty (Carpenter, Laycock and Ribot). Fouillée transforms the problem of psychology into that of the condition of given. This detour clarifies a polemic between Kant and Bergson ; indeed, Bergson draws from psychological conceptions a philosophical implication which dismisses a necessity of the Kantian Deduction : he replaces Kantian limitation of phenomenal reality by prolongment of un movement in fact, and that to universal perception of right (en droit). This last point is the canonical of our interpretation.Finally, the last chapter inquires the question of the meaning of being in the critic of the idea of not-being in Creative evolution, that clarifies a relation between the determination and the existence, so that it outlines a Bergsonian conception of reality as movements.