Couturat, Louis

Couturat, Louis

(b. Paris, France, 17 January 1868; d. between Ris-Orangis and Melun, France, 3 August 1914)

logic, mathematical philosophy, linguistics.

From early childhood Couturat displayed an exceptional mixture of intellectual and artistic talent, and at the lycée his precocity brought him many prizes. He was to become a master of ancient literature, as well as an outstanding critic in the logic of theoretical and applied sciences. Logic was his basic concern, and even his writings on aesthetics show his preoccupation with logical foundations.

When not yet twenty-two Couturat was honored with the lauréat du concours général in philosophy and in science. During his fourth year at the École Normale Supérieure he studied mathematics under Jules Tannery and then continued under Picard and Jordan, also taking courses with Poincare. He received his licentiate in mathematics on 25 July 1892. Thus prepared to handle problems in the philosophy of science, he published a paper on the paradox of Achilles and the tortoise in the Revue philosophique.

His Latin thesis for the doctorate was a scientific study of the Platonic myths in the Dialogues. For the French thesis he devoted himself to a study of the mathematical infinite. Couturat finished both theses by 12 May 1894, while serving at Toulouse as lecturer on Lucretius and Plato. He defended them at the Sorbonne in June 1896 and again was awarded top honors. In De l’infini mathématique he brought to metaphysicians and logicians the theories of the then new mathematics. His treatment of basic concepts served to invalidate the Kantian antinomies, for in the treatment of number and of continuity Couturat adopted a Cantorian stance with respect to an infinite that is defined with logico-mathematical precision. He maintained that a true metaphysics can be founded exclusively on reason. In De mythis Platonicis, he showed that the set of mythical passages does not represent the real thought of Plato as represented in the dialectical passages.

A leave of absence enabled Couturat to continue his scientific studies in Paris, where he audited the lectures of Edmond Bouty and Victor Robin. He was called to the University of Caen on 27 October 1897, to lecture on mathematical philosophy.

In October 1899 he returned to Paris on a second leave of absence for research on Leibniz’ logic, which, in the various editions, had appeared in fragmentary form only. Couturat believed that Leibniz’ metaphysics was a unique product of his logical principles. While in Hannover in 1900–1901 he had access at last to the unpublished works of Leibniz in the Royal Library. His researches resulted in the publication of La logique de Leibniz and another volume of more than 200 new Leibnizian fragments, Opuscules et fragments inédits de Leibniz, on which he based his theory of Leibniz’ logic.

The Leibniz studies brought Couturat into contact with Bertrand Russell and led to his influential edition (1905) of Russell’s Principia mathematica, with analytical commentary on contemporary works on the subject. Bergson then chose Couturat as his assistant in the history of logic at the College de France (1905–1906).

Influenced by Leibniz’ thoughts on the construction of a logical universal language, Couturat became a prime mover in the development of an auxiliary international language. On 1 October 1907 delegates from 310 societies throughout the world met and elected a committee to modify Esperanto. Couturat and Léau were the secretaries. With the collaboration of the Akademie di la Lingue Internaciona Ido, created in 1908, Couturat constructed the complete vocabulary of Ido, a language derived from Esperanto with reforms growing out of scientific linguistic principles. Couturat stood firmly for the application of his own logical principles, despite opposition from many quarters to changes in the already established forms of Esperanto.

Couturat never completed this work. At the age of forty-six and at the height of his intellectual power, he was killed while en route from Ris-Orangis to Melun on the very day Germany declared war on France. A twist of fate brought the speeding automobile carrying the French orders for mobilization into collision with the carriage in which Couturat, a noted pacifist, was riding.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Couturat’s books include De l’infini mathématique (Paris, 1896); De mythis Platonicis (Paris, 1896; Hildesheim, 1961); La logique de Leibniz (Paris, 1901); Opuscules et fragments inédits de Leibniz (Paris, 1903); Histoire de la langue universelle (Paris, 1903), written with Léopold Léau; L’algèbre de la logique (Paris, 1905, 1914; Hildesheim, 1965); Les principes des mathématiques (Paris, 1905; Hildesheim, 1965), Étude sur la dérivation en Esperanto (Coulommiers, 1907); Les nouvelles langues internationales (Paris, 1908), sequel to the Histoire ; and Étude sur la dérivation dans la langue internationale (Paris, 1910).

His interest in languages is shown in Dictionnaire internationale-français (Paris, 1908), in collaboration with L. de Beaufront; International-English Dictionary, English-International Dictionary (London, 1908), in collaboration with L. de Beaufront and P. D. Hugon; Internationaldeutsches Wörterbuch, Deutsch-internationales Wörterbuch (Stuttgart, 1908), in collaboration with L. de Beaufront and R. Thomann; Internaciona matematikal lexiko, en ido, germana, angla, franca ed italiana (Jena, 1910); and Dictionnaire français-international (Paris, 1915), in collaboration with L. de Beaufront.

A complete bibliography of his numerous papers is given in André Lalande, “L’oeuvre de Louis Couturat,” in Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 22 , supp. (Sept. 1914), 644–688.

II. Secondary Literature. Additional information is in Louis Benaerts, “Louis Couturat,” in Annuaire de l’Association amicale de secours des anciens élèves de l’Ècole normale supérieure (Paris, 1915); Robert Blanché, “Couturat,” in Encyclopedia of Philosophy (New York, 1967), II, 248–249; and Ernst Cassirer, “Kant and die moderne Mathematik. Mit Bezug auf Russells and Couturats Werke über die Prinzipien der Mathematik,” in Kantstudien (1907).

Carolyn Eisele