About Étienne Gilson
Étienne Henri Gilson was a Catholic, French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes; he also philosophized in the "existential" tradition of Thomas Aquinas, although he did not consider himself a neo-Thomist philosopher. In 1946, he attained the distinction of being elected an "Immortal" (member) of the Académie française. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2009, the International Étienne Gilson Society was created "to promote the thought of Étienne Gilson and classical philosophy in the academy and culture." It publishes a journal, Studia Gilsoniana. As an internationally renowned thinker, Gilson was first, along with Jacques Maritain, to receive an honorary doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in 1930. He was later awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery in action.
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