Initiation into Philosophy: Émile Faguet

Émile Faguet, the eminent French writer and critic, also was a dedicated educator, becoming a professor in 1897. He was elected to the Académie Française in 1900, and received the Ribbon of the Legion of Honour in the next year. Among his works are monographs on Gustave Flaubert (1899), André Chénier (1902), and Emile Zola (1903); an admirably concise "Histoire de la littérature française depuis le XVII siècle jusqu'a nos jours"; series of literary studies on the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries; "Questions politiques"; "Propos littéraires" ; "Le Libéralisme"; "L'Anticléricalisme"; "Vie de Rousseau"; and "Petite histoire de la littérature française". "Initiation into Philosophy" is perhaps his most widely read book, a very useful introduction, written with much verve, to the most important questions of philosophy, from its beginnings to the 20th century.