Ballanche, Pierre-Simon

Ballanche, Pierre-Simon

(pyĕr-sēmôN` bäläNsh`), 1776–1847, French philosopher. A frequenter of Mme Récamier's salon, he was elected to the Académie française in 1842. He is regarded as the precursor of both liberal Catholicism and romanticismromanticism,
term loosely applied to literary and artistic movements of the late 18th and 19th cent. Characteristics of Romanticism

Resulting in part from the libertarian and egalitarian ideals of the French Revolution, the romantic movements had in common only a
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. In Palingénésie (1827–32) he historically documents his belief in cyclical cultural rebirth. In addition to essays, Ballanche wrote didactic fiction, including a Christianized Antigone (1813) and L'Homme sans nom [man without a name] (1820).