Jean-Gaspard-Félix Ravaisson-Mollien

Qualified as a philosophy teacher (1837), with a doctorate in letters (1839), Félix Ravaisson greatly influenced 19th century French philosophy. He was of the same school as Victor Cousin, but differed from him. He drew on his work as Inspector of public libraries, then from 1852 to 1888 as Inspector General of higher education and from 1870 as Curator of antiquities and modern sculpture at the Louvre to develop original research areas. These ranged from the history of ancient philosophy to that of contemporary philosophy, and from archaeology to the history of art.