Étienne Gilson (1884–1978)

Historian of medieval philosophy, author of The Spirit of Mediaeval Philosophy. Étienne Henri Gilson was a French Catholic philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the "existential" tradition of Thomas Aquinas, although he did not consider himself a neo-Thomist philosopher. In 1946, he attained the distinction of being elected an "Immortal" (member) of the Académie française. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.