MAINE DE BIRAN, FRANÇOIS-PIERRE-GONTHIER (1766-1824), French philosopher, was born at Bergerac, on the 29th of November, 1766. The name Maine he assumed (some time before 1787) from an estate called Le Maine, near Mouleydier. After studying with distinction under the _doctrinaires_ of Périgueux, he entered the life-guards of Louis XVI., and was present at Versailles on the memorable 5th and 6th of October 1789. On the breaking up of the _gardes du corps_ Biran retired to his patrimonial inheritance of Grateloup, near Bergerac, where his retired life preserved him from the horrors of the Revolution. It was at this period that, to use his own words, he "passed _per saltum_ from frivolity to philosophy." He began with psychology, which he made the study of his life. After the Reign of Terror Maine de Biran took part in political affairs. Having been excluded from the council of the Five Hundred on suspicion of royalism, he took part with his friend Laîné in the commission of 1813, which gave expression for the first time to direct opposition to the will of the emperor. After the Restoration he held the office of treasurer to the chamber of deputies, and habitually retired during the autumn recess to his native district to pursue his favourite study. He died on the 20th (16th, or 23rd, according to others) of July 1824. Maine de Biran's philosophical reputation has suffered from two causes--his obscure and laboured style, and the fact that only a few, and these the least characteristic, of his writings appeared during his lifetime. These consisted of the essay on habit (_Sur l'influence de l'habitude_, 1803), a critical review of P. Laromiguière's lectures (1817), and the philosophical portion of the article "Leibnitz" in the _Biographie universelle_ (1819). A treatise on the analysis of thought (_Sur la décomposition de la pensée_), although sent to press, was never printed. In 1834 these writings, together with the essay entitled _Nouvelles considérations sur les rapports du physique et du moral de l'homme_, were published by Victor Cousin, who in 1841 added three volumes, under the title _Oeuvres philosophiques de Maine de Biran_. But the publication (in 1859) by E. Naville (from MSS. placed at his father's disposal by Biran's son) of the _Oeuvres inédites de Maine de Biran_, in three volumes, first rendered possible a connected view of his philosophical development. At first a sensualist, like Condillac and Locke, next an intellectualist, he finally shows himself a mystical theosophist. The _Essai sur les fondements de la psychologie_ represents the second or completest stage of his philosophy, the fragments of the _Nouveaux essais d'anthropologie_ the third.