Secretan, Charles

Secrétan, Charles 

Born Jan. 19, 1815, in Lausanne; died there Jan. 21, 1895. Swiss idealist philosopher.

Secrétan studied under F. W. Schelling and was influenced by I. Kant. He was a professor at Lausanne from 1838 to 1846 and again after 1866 and at Neuchâtel from 1850 to 1866. In his main work, The Philosophy of Freedom (1849), he developed a spiritualistic concept of freedom. With respect to social issues, Secrétan favored the equal distribution of property, the abolition of class privileges, and equal rights for women.

WORKS

La Philosophie de la liberié, 3rd ed., vols. 1–2. Paris, 1879.
Le Principe de la morale, 2nd ed. Paris, 1893.
La Civilisation et al croyance, 3rd ed. Lausanne, 1893.
Etudes sociales. Paris, 1889.
Mon Utopie Paris, 1892.

REFERENCE

Salmona, B. Il pensiero di Ch. Secrétan, vols. 1–2. Milan, 1968–71.