Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale

Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale
Title	Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale
Discipline	Philosophy
Language	French
Country	France
Abbreviation	RMM
Publisher	Presses Universitaires de France
History	1893–present

Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale is a French philosophical journal founded in 1893 that became central to debates among scholars across Europe and the Americas, engaging figures associated with Sorbonne University, Collège de France, École Normale Supérieure (Paris), University of Oxford and Harvard University. The journal linked analytic and continental traditions through exchanges involving contributors from Émile Durkheim's circle, correspondents in the networks of Henri Bergson, advocates of Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, and interlocutors aligned with Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore. It served as a forum connecting philosophical movements represented by members of Académie française, participants in the Salon des Indépendants, and scholars associated with Columbia University, Princeton University, Universität Göttingen and University of Cambridge.

History

The journal was founded amid fin-de-siècle debates that involved personalities linked to Ferdinand Brunetière, Jules Lachelier, Charles Renouvier, and patrons connected to Théophile Gautier and Victor Hugo's cultural legacy, while intersecting with institutions such as Bibliothèque nationale de France and patrons from Élysée Palace. Early editorial ties reached toward intellectual circles around Henri Bergson, Paul Janet, Alexandre Koyré, and exchanges with German contacts including Wilhelm Dilthey, Franz Brentano, and later dialogues with émigré scholars from University of Vienna and Charles University in Prague. Throughout the interwar period the journal hosted debates involving members of Société de Philosophie de France, interactions with émigré academics from Weimar Republic institutions, and correspondences with figures associated with University of Bologna, University of Berlin, and the Royal Society of London's intellectual networks.

Editorial Board and Contributors

The editorial board historically included names tied to Émile Boutroux, Henri Bergson, Maurice Blondel, Gabriel Compayré, and later editors connected to Jean Wahl, Gaston Bachelard, Paul Ricœur, Jules Lavigne, and intellectuals moving between Université de Strasbourg, Université de Lyon, and Université de Toulouse. Contributors comprised a broad roster including philosophers such as Edmund Husserl, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Simone Weil, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Georges Canguilhem, Emmanuel Levinas, Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, John Rawls, Alasdair MacIntyre, and historians or scientists affiliated with École Polytechnique, Collège de France, Institut Pasteur, Musée du Louvre, and Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. The list of contributors also intersected with scholars from University of Chicago, Yale University, King's College London, University of Toronto, McGill University, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Università di Roma La Sapienza, and Universidade de São Paulo.

Scope and Influence

The journal's scope encompassed metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of science, facilitating exchanges among proponents of positions associated with Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Plato, René Descartes, David Hume, John Locke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, Franz Brentano, Wilhelm Dilthey, Henri Bergson, and Edmund Husserl. Its influence extended into debates concerning methodological issues debated at International Congress of Philosophy, the League of Nations's intellectual milieu, and academic reforms discussed at Ministry of Public Instruction (France) and at faculties in Université Libre de Bruxelles and University of Geneva. Cross-disciplinary impact connected to discussions in journals such as Mind, The Philosophical Review, Revue Philosophique de la France et de l'Étranger, and interactions with societies like Société Française de Philosophie and the American Philosophical Association.

Notable Articles and Debates

Key articles and debates published in the journal engaged positions by thinkers such as Henri Bergson on duration, Edmund Husserl on phenomenology, Martin Heidegger on ontology, Bertrand Russell on logical atomism, G. E. Moore on common sense, Ludwig Wittgenstein on language, Jean-Paul Sartre on existentialism, Simone de Beauvoir on ethics, Emmanuel Levinas on responsibility, Michel Foucault on power relations, Paul Ricœur on hermeneutics, and Gaston Bachelard on epistemology. Debates addressed interpretations of texts by Aristotle, Plato, Immanuel Kant, and controversies linked to the reception of Charles Darwin's work, the philosophical implications of discoveries at Institut Pasteur and theoretical developments influenced by Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. Dialogues in the journal often cross-referenced works associated with Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Aquinas.

Publication and Distribution

Published periodically by entities connected to Presses Universitaires de France and distributed through networks including libraries at Bibliothèque nationale de France, university subscriptions at Sorbonne University, institutional holdings at Harvard University Library, Bodleian Library, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, and circulation channels involving academic societies such as Société Française de Philosophie and international partners including International Federation of Philosophical Societies. The journal appeared in print formats collected in university serials, indexed in catalogues of Library of Congress, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, and archived within repositories linked to Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and select museum libraries like Musée d'Orsay.

Reception and Legacy

The reception of the journal spanned praise from proponents at Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and criticism from adversaries associated with movements around Surrealist movement, debates with Marxist critics linked to Communist Party of France, and engagements with analytic philosophers at University of Cambridge and Princeton University. Its legacy includes shaping curricula at École Normale Supérieure (Paris), influencing interpretive approaches at Université de Strasbourg and Université de Montpellier, and informing later periodicals such as Les Temps Modernes, Esprit (journal), and The Journal of Philosophy. The archive remains a resource for researchers consulting collections at Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Institut d'Histoire du Temps Présent, and academic departments at University of California, Berkeley, Australian National University, and McGill University.

Category:French philosophy journals