Philipp Albert Stapfer (23 September 1766,

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

– 27 March 1840,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a Swiss politician and philosopher. He was the plenipotentiary envoi of the

Helvetic Republic The Helvetic Republic (; ; ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...

to the

French consulate The Consulate () was the top-level government of the First French Republic from the fall of the French Directory, Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799 until the start of the First French Empire, French Empire on 18 May 1804. ...

in Paris from 1801 till 1803. (

Act of Mediation The Act of Mediation () was issued by Napoleon Bonaparte, French Consulate, First Consul of the French Republic on 19 February 1803 to abolish the Helvetic Republic, which had existed since the invasion of Old Swiss Confederacy, Switzerland by F ...

) He married and settled in France, at the Chateau de Talcy (Loir-et-Cher) and in Paris where he became the friend of

Maine de Biran François-Pierre-Gontier de Biran (; 29 November 176620 July 1824), usually known as Maine de Biran (), was a French philosopher. Life Maine de Biran was born in Bergerac. He assumed the name Maine (sometime before 1787) from his father's esta ...

in 1805 at informal gatherings of

Cabanis Cabanis is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernard Cabanis (born 1950), French ice hockey player * George Cabanis (1815–1892), American politician * James Cabanis (1838–1920), American politician, son of George Cabanis *Jea ...

circle at Auteuil. He was also vice-president of the Paris Protestant society. He is the recipient of Maine de Biran's essay: : ''"Réponses aux arguments contre l'aperception immédiate d'une liaison causale entre le vouloir primitif et la motion et contre la dérivation d'un principe universel et nécessaire de causalités de cette source."'' (1818); an important résumé known as: ''"Réponses à Stapfer".''

Pestalozzi

Philipp Albert Stapfer also shared with

a pronounced interest in the educational experiments of

Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (; ; ; 12 January 1746 – 17 February 1827) was a Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer who exemplified Romanticism in his approach. He founded several educational institutions both in German- and French-speaking ...

. As a Minister of Sciences and Arts of the

in 1798 he arranged the nomination of Pestalozzi as chief editor of the government paper "Helvetisches Volksblatt" - a post from which Pestalozzi quickly resigned. In Paris Stapfer pleaded Pestalozzi's case for educational reform with

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

, who denigrated the program for its alleged lack of real science. Maine de Biran however - following the encounters with Stapfer at Auteuil and his own appointment as "sous-préfet" of the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

in 1806 - reformed the education in his department by inviting to Bergerac a teacher formed by Pestalozzi at

Yverdon Yverdon-les-Bains () (called Eburodunum and Ebredunum during the Ancient Rome, Roman era) is a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Jura-North Vaudois District, Jura-Nord vaudois of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It ...

Philosopher

Apart from being an involved and tolerant Protestant philosopher Stapfer, with

André-Marie Ampère André-Marie Ampère (, ; ; 20 January 177510 June 1836) was a French physicist and mathematician who was one of the founders of the science of classical electromagnetism, which he referred to as ''electrodynamics''. He is also the inventor of ...

, Joseph-Marie de Gérando,

Pierre Paul Royer-Collard Pierre Paul Royer-Collard (; 21 June 1763 – 2 September 1845) was a French statesman and philosopher, leader of the Doctrinaires group during the Bourbon Restoration (1814–1830). Biography Early life He was born at Sompuis, near Vitry-le-F ...

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

and many others was a regular participant in the philosophical debates organised by

, after the latter finally settled in Paris as an administrator in 1812. Together with Degérando, who introduced Kant studies in France, he was one of Maine de Biran's main sources on the philosophy of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

whose work he followed in its development by one of Kant's pupils: Friedrich Bouterwek (1766-1828), professor in Philosophy at the Georg August University in

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

. ''Meyers Lexicon'' (Mannheim 1990) links Bouterwek with Maine de Biran. Bouterwek was already lecturing on Kant at Göttingen when Stapfer studied there in 1789-1790. The extent of Stapfer's knowledge of Kant can be judged from the substantial (pagelong) notes he appended to Maine de Biran's: ''"Exposition de la doctrine philosophique de

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...

. Composée pour la Biographie Universelle"'' (Paris: Michaud ed. 1819). This exposition written at the instigation of Stapfer is one of only two (authorised) philosophical texts by Maine de Biran published during his lifetime. (Stapfer's notes were republished by Pierre Tisserand in his Oeuvres de Maine de Biran, 1939 -Tome XI pp. 435–489) Stapfer long survived his immediate contemporaries de Biran and Bouterwek. He arranged for his own salon, inviting guests such as

Victor Cousin Victor Cousin (; ; 28 November 179214 January 1867) was a French philosopher. He was the founder of " eclecticism", a briefly influential school of French philosophy that combined elements of German idealism and Scottish Common Sense Realism. ...

Sainte-Beuve Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (; 23 December 1804 – 13 October 1869) was a French literary critic. Early life He was born in Boulogne, educated there, and studied medicine at the Collège Charlemagne in Paris (1824–27). In 1828, he se ...

, Guizot to whom he became an important material witness of the preceding decades. It took the untiring persistence of Stapfer to encourage Victor Cousin and Joseph Lainé to classify and publish the works of Maine de Biran.

Writings

*
De la lecture de la Bible, particulièrement de l'Ancien Testament: et des fruits que les hommes de toutes les capacités peuvent en recueillir, même sans le secours de notes et de commentaires
' (1821) *
Considérations sur les rapports de la lecture universelle et intégrale des Saintes Ecritures avec l'état moral des individus, le bonheur des peuples, et la cause du Christianisme
' (1823) * ''Mélanges philosophiques, littéraires, historiques et religieux'' (1844)

References

* (Stapfer in:) de La Valette Monbrun: "Maine de Biran (1766-1824)" Paris: Librairie Philosophique J.Vrin, 1914 pp453–455 * (Réponses à Stapfer in:) Henri Gouhier: "Maine de Biran: Oeuvres Choisies" Paris: Aubier Montaigne -Bibliothèque Philosophique, 1942 * Max Liedtke: "Pestalozzi" Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1968

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stapfer, Philipp Albert 1766 births 1840 deaths People from Bern 18th-century philosophers 19th-century Swiss philosophers Swiss philosophers Swiss Protestants