BATTEUX

batteux, charles (1713-1780), french philosopher and writer on aesthetics, was born near vouziers (ardennes), and studied theology at reims. in 1739 he came to paris, and after teaching in the colleges of lisieux and navarre, was appointed to the chair of greek and roman philosophy in the college de france. in 1746 he published his treatise _les beaux-arts reduits a un meme principe_, an attempt to find a unity among the various theories of beauty and taste, and his views were widely accepted. the reputation thus gained, confirmed by his translation of horace (1750), led to his becoming a member of the academie des inscriptions (1754) and of the french academy (1761). his _cours de belles lettres_ (1765) was afterwards included with some minor writings in the large treatise, _principes de la lilterature_ (1774). the rules for composition there laid down are, perhaps, somewhat pedantic. his philosophical writings were _la morale d'epicure tiree de ses propres ecrits_ (1758), and the _histoire des causes premieres_ (1769). in consequence of the freedom with which in this work he attacked the abuse of authority in philosophy, he lost his professorial chair. his last and most extensive work was a _cours d'etudes a l'usage des eleves de l'ecole militaire_ (45 vols.). in the _beaux-arts_, batteux developed a theory which is derived from locke through voltaire's sceptical sensualism. he held that art consists in the faithful imitation of the beautiful in nature. applying this principle to the art of poetry, and analysing, line by line and even word by word, the works of great poets, he deduced the law that the beauty of poetry consists in the accuracy, beauty and harmony of individual expression. this narrow and pedantic theory had at least the merit of insisting on propriety of expression. his _histoire des causes premieres_ was among the first attempts at a history of philosophy, and in his work on epicurus, following on gassendi, he defended epicureanism against the general attacks made against it. see dacier et dupuy, "eloges," in _memoires de l'academie des inscriptions_.