French Philosopher and Politician. Known for being the founder of Spiritualism, he was Professor at the Ecole Normal and at the Sorbonne in Paris. His ideas were substantially influenced by the thought of Immanuel Kant and German idealism. He argued that the basis of metaphysics are the observation and analysis of the facts of conscious life. He was also a historycal of philosophy,  having edited the Complete Works of Rene Descartes. Cousin wrote numerous works, including “De la metaphysique of Aristotle”, “Cours d’histoire de la philosophie moderne”, “Du scepticisme de Pascal. Défense et de l’université de la philosophie”, “Fragments philosophiques”. As politician he, in the 1930s, was Minister appointed for the reorganization of  the system of philosophical studies in France. (bio by: Lucy Caldarelli)