Abstract

Gabriel Séailles is an often neglected figure in Third Republic French philosophy. As Professor of history of philosophy at the Sorbonne and advocate of an aesthetic and moral education for the lower classes, he stands at the crossroad of many cultural trends of his time. This article accounts from both a theoretical and historical perspective for the deep entanglement between his aesthetic doctrine, notably his theory of genius, based on a recasting of Kantian-Schillerian elements, and his egalitarian conception of society.