Philosophie et Psychologie: Leibniz à Freud

Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716)

• Born in Leipzig, Germany, learned Latin independently, and entered university at 14.
• Diplomat to Louis XIV in 1672, developed calculus.
• Joined the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1699, founded the Berlin Academy.
• Proposed the existence of unconscious perceptions.
• Believed perceptions of environmental stimuli (e.g., waves) were composed of numerous small, unconscious perceptions.
• Key work: New Essays on Human Understanding (1765).

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

• Studied literature after his father's death.
• Struggled to find academic employment.
• Experienced depression in 1823.
• His work was largely unrecognized until later in his life.
• His philosophy centers on the idea that human will is an illusion.
• He believed individuals strive to fulfill a fundamental "will to live."
• Key work: The World as Will and Representation (1819).

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

• Conducted research on hysteria and hypnosis with Charcot in Paris.
• Established a practice in Vienna and founded psychoanalysis.
• Faced challenges with Jung and left Germany during Nazi rule.
• Believed the unconscious mind played a vital role in shaping human behavior.
• Used unconscious processes to explain seemingly paradoxical mental experiences.
• Key works: The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901)

Henri Bergson (1859-1941)

• Earned a philosophy degree at age 22.
• Was a professor at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS).
• Became a professor at the Collège de France in 1900
• Member of the French Academy in 1914..
• Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1927, and the Legion of Honour in 1930.
• Distinguished between unconsciousness and an interrupted, inhibited experience.
• Distinguished between representation, and the associated conscious response.
• Key works: Time and Free Will (1889), Matter and Memory (1896), Creative Evolution (1907).