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Jean Guitton | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1901-08-18)18 August 1901 |
| Died | 21 March 1999(1999-03-21) (aged 97) Paris, France |
| Alma mater | École Normale Supérieure |
Jean Guitton (August 18, 1901 – March 21, 1999) was a FrenchCatholicphilosopher andtheologian.Le Monde called him "the last of the great Catholic philosophers."[1]
Born inSaint-Étienne, Loire in August 1901, he was the son of Auguste Guitton, a prosperouspassementerie industrialist, and Gabrielle Bertrand, both devout Catholics. He studied at theLycée du Parc inLyon and was accepted at theÉcole Normale Supérieure inParis in 1920. His principal religious and intellectual influence was from a blind priest, Francois Pouget. He finished his philosophical studies in the early 1920s and taught in a number of secondary schools. Guitton was a disciple of philosopherHenri Bergson.[1]
DuringWorld War II, he was made a war prisoner by theNazis. Guitton held university professorships in Montpellier and then Dijon.
On 3 September 1948, at Nice, Guitton married Marie-Louise Honorine Bonnet (Puget-Théniers, Alpes-Maritimes, 22.03.1901 - Nice, 18.01.1974).[2]
In the year 1954, he earned a literary award from theAcadémie française. From 1955 to 1968 he continued his works as a professor of philosophy at theSorbonne. He became a member of the Académie française in 1961.[3]
Invited as an observer to theecumenical council ofVatican II, the firstlay person to be granted this honor, he would become a close friend ofPope Paul VI.[1]
He died inParis at 97 in 1999. During his life, he was also awarded the Great Cross of theNational Order of Merit, Commander of theLégion d'Honneur and of the Arts and Letters Medal.
In most of his works Jean Guitton writes about and discusses theagnostic confrontation between humanfaith and human logic. He wrote around fifty books.
