Ferdinand Alquié was a French philosopher and member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques.

He taught at the lycée Louis-le-Grand and at the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

 university. He was an instructor of Gilles Deleuze

Gilles Deleuze

Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix...

, who, according to Michael Hardt

Michael Hardt

Michael Hardt is an American literary theorist and political philosopher perhaps best known for Empire, written with Antonio Negri and published in 2000...

, charged him of drawing on biology

Biology

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...

, psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, and other fields, neglecting philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

. Deleuze said to his former teacher, "Your other reproach touches me even more. Because I believe entirely in the specificity of philosophy and I owe this conviction to you yourself." Alquié also directed Deleuze's secondary thesis, "Expressionism in Philosophy: Spinoza." He has published many books about Descartes, Kant

KANT

KANT is a computer algebra system for mathematicians interested in algebraic number theory, performing sophisticated computations in algebraic number fields, in global function fields, and in local fields. KASH is the associated command line interface...

 and Spinoza, as well as a book on Nicolas Malebranche

Nicolas Malebranche

Nicolas Malebranche ; was a French Oratorian and rationalist philosopher. In his works, he sought to synthesize the thought of St. Augustine and Descartes, in order to demonstrate the active role of God in every aspect of the world...

. He was close to André Breton

André Breton

André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....

 and wrote Philosophy of Surrealism (1955).

He has often been considered as opposed to Martial Guéroult

Martial Guéroult

Martial Guéroult was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy, specialized in 17th century philosophy. His work was characterized by a close attention to history of philosophy, which he considered as noble as philosophy itself, and a strong demand for systematicity...

 especially during a polemic about Descartes and also about Spinoza.

Works

• Leçon de philosophie, 2 vol., Didier, 1931-1951.
• Notes sur la première partie des Principes de la philosophie
  Principles of Philosophy
  Principles of Philosophy is a book by René Descartes. Written in Latin, it was published in 1644 and dedicated to Elisabeth of Bohemia, with whom Descartes had a long standing friendship. A French version followed in 1647. It set forth the principles of nature—the Laws of Physics--as Descartes...
  
   de Descartes
  René Descartes
  René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day...
  
  , Éditions Chantiers, 1933.
• Le Problème moral, Éditions Chantiers, 1933.
• Les États représentatifs, Éditions Chantiers, 1934.
• Les Mouvements et les actes, Éditions Chantiers, 1934.
• Plans de philosophie générale, Éditions Chantiers, 1934; réédition La Table Ronde, "La Petite Vermillon", 2000.
• La Science, Éditions Chantiers, 1934.
• Les Devoirs et la vie morale (plans de morale spéciale), Éditions Chantiers, 1935.
• Notions de psychologie générale, Éditions Chantiers, 1935.
• Les Tendances et la raison, Éditions Chantiers, 1935.
• Les Sciences mathématiques, les sciences de la matière et de la vie, Éditions Chantiers, 1936.
• Les Synthèses représentatives, Éditions Chantiers, 1936.
• Les États affectifs, Éditions Chantiers, 1937.
• Les Opérations intellectuelles, Éditions Chantiers, 1937.
• Le Désir d'éternité, PUF, 1943.
• Introduction à la lecture de la Critique de la raison pure
  Critique of Pure Reason
  The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, first published in 1781, second edition 1787, is considered one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. Also referred to as Kant's "first critique," it was followed by the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgement...
  
  , PUF, 1943.
• La Découverte métaphysique de l'homme chez Descartes, PUF, 1950.
• La Nostalgie de l'être, PUF, 1950.
• Science et métaphysique chez Descartes, Les Cours de Sorbonne, CDU, 1955.
• Philosophie du surréalisme, Flammarion, 1955.
• Descartes, l'homme et l'œuvre, Connaissance des Lettres, Hatier, 1956.
• L'Expérience, PUF, 1957.
• Édition de textes choisis de lÉthique
  Ethics (book)
  Ethics is a philosophical book written by Benedict de Spinoza. It was written in Latin. Although it was published posthumously in 1677, it is his most famous work, and is considered his magnum opus....
  
   de Spinoza
  Baruch Spinoza
  Baruch de Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death...
  
  , PUF, 1961.
• Édition des Œuvres philosophiques de Descartes, 3 vol., Garnier, 1963-1973.
• Nature et vérité dans la philosophie de Spinoza, Les Cours de Sorbonne, CDU, 1965.
• Solitude de la raison, Le Terrain vague, 1966.
• La Critique kantienne de la métaphysique, PUF, 1968.
• Entretiens sur le surréalisme, W. de Gruyter, 1968.
• Signification de la philosophie, Hachette, 1971.
• Le Cartésianisme de Malebranche, Vrin, 1974.
• Malebranche et le rationalisme chrétien, Seghers, 1977.
• La Conscience affective, Vrin, 1979.
• Le Rationalisme de Spinoza, PUF, 1981.
• Servitude et liberté chez Spinoza, Les Cours de Sorbonne, CDU.
• La Morale de Kant, Les Cours de Sorbonne, 1957.
• Édition des Œuvres philosophiques de Kant, 3 vol., Gallimard, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
  Bibliothèque de la Pléiade
  The Bibliothèque de la Pléiade is a French series of books which was created in the 1930s by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. . Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the complete works of classic authors in a pocket format...
  
  , 1980, 1984, 1986.
• Études cartésiennes, Vrin, 1983.