Georges Palante

Lore & Background

Palante was born in Saint-Laurent-Blangy, Pas-de-Calais, to father Emile Palante, an accountant from Liège. After his older brother Emile died when Palante was five, he excelled in Latin at the college of Arras and earned his bachelor's degree at Lycée Louis-le-Grand. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Douai and began his teaching career in 1885 at Aurillac, where he met his first wife Louise Genty, marrying her three years later. They had a daughter, Germaine, in 1890. Palante separated from his first wife that same year and taught at several lycées, including Saint-Brieuc, Valenciennes, La Rochelle, and Niort, before returning to Saint-Brieuc in 1898 for the remainder of his career.

Palante published collections of articles such as 'Combat pour l'individu' (1904) and 'La Sensibilité individualiste' (1909). In 1907, he completed a draft doctoral thesis at the Sorbonne that was never authorized, but he published it as 'Antinomies entre l'individu et la société' in 1912 and expanded it as 'Pessimisme et individualisme' in 1914. He stood as a socialist candidate in the 1908 municipal elections but was not elected. He took over from Jules de Gaultier at the Mercure de France philosophy journal for thirteen years. In 1916, he befriended writer Louis Guilloux. Palante lived a bohemian lifestyle, drinking heavily. He married his second wife Louise Pierre in 1923, retired in 1924, and died from a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head on 5 August 1925, while suffering from acromegaly.

Reader's Guide

Georges Palante's significance lies in his uncompromising defense of the individual against social holism, particularly in opposition to Émile Durkheim. His aristocratic individualism, influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer, critiqued the 'herd instinct' but did not seek to destroy society; rather, he aimed to build new social networks. Politically, he initially leaned toward socialism but rejected Marxist state socialism, and though he rejected the anarchist label, his ideas are often regarded as anarchist or libertarian. His legacy is sustained through his influence on literature: Louis Guilloux modeled the character Cripure in 'Le Sang noir' on Palante, and Albert Camus quoted him in 'The Rebel.' Jean Grenier devoted a chapter to him, and André Gide quoted Palante in 'Lafcadio's Adventures.' Michel Onfray's thesis 'Physiologie de Georges Palante' revived interest in his work, subtitling later editions 'Portrait of a Left-wing Nietzschean.' Palante's writings, including 'Combat pour l'individu' and 'Pessimisme et individualisme,' continue to be studied for their critique of mass society and advocacy of methodological individualism.

Did You Know?

• Palante died from a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head while suffering from acromegaly, a degenerative disease diagnosed when he was a student.
• Louis Guilloux modeled the character Cripure in his novel 'Le Sang noir' on Palante.