SCHUHL, PIERRE-MAXIME

SCHUHL, PIERRE-MAXIME (1902–1984), French philosopher. Born in Paris, he received his doctorate there in 1934. He taught at Montpellier and was appointed professor at Toulouse in 1938. In World War II Schuhl was a captain in a motorized division; he was captured and spent 1940–44 at the Colditz camp for officers of various Allied countries. After the war he became a professor at the Sorbonne, and chairman of its philosophy department in 1962. He was also editor of the Revue philosophique from 1952, and editor of the series Bibliothèque de Philosophie contemporaine. In addition, Schuhl was president of the Société des Etudes Juives (1949–52). His main interest was in Greek philosophy, especially that of Socrates and   Plato. He wrote on these subjects as well as on their influences on later thinkers, ancient and modern. His books include Platon et l'art de son temps (1933, 19522); Essai sur la formation de la pensée grecque (1934, 19492; his thesis); Machinisme et philosophie (1938, 19472); Etudes sur la fabulation platonicienne (1947); Pour connaître la pensée de Lord Bacon (1949); he edited, Trois essais de Montaigne (1951); L'Oeuvre de Platon (1954); Etudes platoniciennes (1960), which includes an essay on contacts between Jewish and Greek thinkers; and Le Dominateur et les possibles (1960). (Richard H. Popkin)