Julie Velten Favre
1834-1896
Moral Philosophy of the Stoics, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Montaigne

Chronology:

Julie Velten Favre was born on November 5, 1834 in Wissembourg, France. Her mother gave birth to six children, 4 girls and 2 boys and she did most of the childcare. Her father was a Lutheran pastor. Early in her life she revolted against the disciplines of religious practices.

In 1848, When she was 14, there was the political uprisings of 1848 and she joined the Republican cause. Freedom and politics remained important to her through out her life. She obtained an education through schooling and graduated with a teaching degree.

She went to Paris and became a head assistant at a Mme. Frere-jean's boarding school. Mme Frere-jean was an educated woman who held liberal ideas. She became a mentor to the younger woman. And they remained life long friends.

In 1860 Mme. Frere-jean died and Julie became the school's director.

During the war of 1870, she stayed at the school with those students who were unable to return to their homes.

1874 She married Jules Favre, who was a well known Republican and who later took an official job in the government.

1880 Her husband dies.

1881 She is offered the directorship of the Ecole Normal Superieure de Sevres. She was an able administrator andworked hard at attaining good relations with the surrounding community. She was quite successful in negotiating between the student body which was enthusiastic and loyal and people in the surrounding community who resented the schools with its women teachers.

With a rare sense of the needs of scholars, the French philosopher and administrator proposed a retirement community for graduates who might find themselves isolated in their older years.

1896, Julie Velten Favre died in January at the age of 62.

See: Julie Velten Favre

Works

She left extensive correspondence with students and graduates of the Ecole.

Most of her works were edited and published during her later years. These include:

1887 - La Morale des Stoiciens

- La Morale de Socrates

- Montaingne moraliste et pedagogue

1888 La Morale d'Aristotle

1889 La Morele de Ciceron

- La Morale de Plutarque

Recommended reading:

Jeffner Allen. Julie Velten Favre in A History of Women Philosophers Vol 3 edited by Mary Ellen Waithe. Kluwer-Academic Publishers, 1991. pp. 197 - 207. This essay contains discussion of Jule Velten Favre's works and ideas. It is one of the few essays in English about this philosopher.

This page was last updated 12/12/14.