Philipp Albert Stapfer

Philipp Albert Stapfer also shared with Maine de Biran a pronounced interest in the educational experiments of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi.

In Paris Stapfer pleaded Pestalozzi's case for educational reform with Napoleon Bonaparte, who denigrated the program for its alleged lack of real science.

Maine de Biran however - following the encounters with Stapfer at Auteuil and his own appointment as "sous-préfet" of the Dordogne in 1806 - reformed the education in his department by inviting to Bergerac a teacher formed by Pestalozzi at Yverdon.

He arranged for his own salon, inviting guests such as Victor Cousin, Sainte-Beuve, Guizot to whom he became an important material witness of the preceding decades.

It took the untiring persistence of Stapfer to encourage Victor Cousin and Joseph Lainé to classify and publish the works of Maine de Biran.