Charles Batteux

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 Collège de France.

His philosophical writings were La morale d'Épicure tirée de ses propres écrits (1758), and the Histoire des causes premières (1769).

His last and most extensive work was a Cours d'études à l'usage des élèves de l'école militaire in forty-five volumes.

[1] In Les Beaux Arts, Batteux developed a theory influenced by John Locke through Voltaire's sceptical sensualism.

His Histoire des causes premières 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.