Institut national des Sciences et Arts
Members
- André Morellet cleric economist freemason philosopher teacher translator writer
- Antoine Diannyère economist novelist translator
- Antoine-Louis-Claude Destutt, comte de Tracy freemason military philosopher politician professor writer
- Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford civil servant economist military scientist spy teacher writer
- Charles-Albert Demoustier jurist playwright poet
- Charles-François Dupuis cleric jurist politician professor scientist
- Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord cleric diplomat entrepreneur politician writer
- Constantin-François de Chasseboeuf, comte de Volney freemason historian journalist philosopher politician professor
- David Baillie Warden cleric diplomat military physician revolutionary teacher translator writer
- Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès cleric freemason philosopher politician
- Évariste Désiré de Forges, vicomte de Parny civil servant freemason military poet
- Germain Garnier civil servant jurist politician translator writer
- Guy-Jean-Baptiste Target jurist politician translator
- Henri Grégoire civil servant cleric politician writer
- Jacques-André Naigeon artist translator
- Jacques Gaudin cleric jurist librarian politician
- Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre abolitionist engineer military philosopher spy traveller writer
- Jean-Antoine Gallois civil servant freemason poet politician translator
- Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Coudray bookseller journalist novelist playwright politician publisher writer
- Jean-François Ducis playwright poet writer
- Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux politician writer
- Louis-Sébastien Mercier novelist pamphleteer playwright politician translator writer
- Marie-Charles-Joseph de Pougens publisher translator writer
- Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau civil servant poet politician
- Paul Jérémie Bitaubé cleric poet professor translator writer
- Pierre Daunou historian politician writer
- Pierre-Jean-Georges Cabanis freemason philosopher scientist
- Pierre-Louis Roederer ambassador economist freemason historian journalist jurist pamphleteer politician writer
- Pierre Prévost professor scientist teacher
- Pierre-Samuel Dupont de Nemours bookseller diplomat economist entrepreneur freemason journalist philosopher politician publisher scientist translator writer
Notes
Founded on 25 October 1795 by order of the National Convention to replace the abolished Ancien Régime academies, the new Institut national was inaugurated under the Directory on 4 April 1796. The second of the three classes of the Institute, that for Moral and Political Sciences ("Classe des Sciences morales et politiques") enshrined the new field of social science at the heart of Enlightenment culture.
This Class was seen by its founders as necessary for stabilizing Revolutionary turmoil, and many of its most vocal thinkers (known as 'Idéologues' after the royalists' derogatory term for students of a science of ideas) shared an ambitious vision of social science leading to social harmony. As the physician, Pierre-Jean-Georges Cabanis, asserted during an early session of the class, "Only habits of reason can render [the republican government] stable and peaceful… The stronger temper given to its citizens demands of them a greater dose of common sense, so that their passions do not always tend to replace public utility".
Members not appointed directly by the Directory were sponsored by the military and diplomatic elite, as well as leading members of the Auteuil Circle, such as Sieyes, Garat, Cabanis, Ginguené and Roederer. Other members were added, or restored, after its reorganization in 1803.
For more on its background and mission, see Martin S. Staum, 'Minerva's Message. Stabilizing the French Revolution' (1996, McGill)