Blondel, Maurice, 1861–1949, French Catholic philosopher, b.
Dijon. He was a professor at the universities of Montauban,
Lille, and Aix-Marseille during his influential career. Like his
contemporary Henri Bergson he was antirationalist and scorned
science. In his first work, L'Action (1893, rev. ed. 1950), he
laid the groundwork for his later thought. Blondel held that
action alone could never satisfy the human yearning for the
transfinite, which could only be fulfilled by God, whom he
described as the "first principle and last term." In his
positive affirmation of God he was close to St. Augustine,
Plato, and Leibniz; he later also accorded legitimacy to the
rational proofs of God's existence. His other chief works were
La Pensée (2 vol., 1934–35) and Le Problème de la philosophie
catholique (1932). See study by H. Bouillard (1969). The
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