Basch, Victor:

By: Isidore Singer

Professor of philosophy at the University of Rennes; born at Budapest, Hungary, in 1863; son of Raphael Basch. Removing in childhood to France, he studied at the Sorbonne; in 1885 he was appointed professor at the University of Nancy, and in 1887 at the University of Rennes. During the Dreyfus affair he was the leader of the Dreyfusards at Rennes, who were placed in a serious and difficult position when the case was tried in that city. Basch as a Jew and a Dreyfusard was subjected to downright persecution at the hands of the fanatical anti-Semitic populace; but he championed the cause of his race and fought and suffered for the principles of legal and social justice. His published works include an important study, "L'Esthétique de Kant," Paris, 1896; the first volume of a work in four volumes on the history of esthetics; "Poétique de Schiller"; "La Vie Intellectuelle à l'Etranger"; "Les Origines de l'Individualisme Moderne." He also contributes frequently to the "Siècle" and the "Grande Revue" of Paris.