Souriau, Étienne (1892-1979). French philosopher and aesthetic, born in Lille and died in Paris. Professor of philosophy and aesthetics at the University of Lyon and, from 1941, at the Sorbonne in Paris. His philosophy can be defined as a philosophy of instauration, so called because it tends to the individual, through a dialectical process, and a progressive improvement, achieve the realization of his own being. The concept of instauration is of an aesthetic nature, because the "project" that informs the life of the individual is forged to the way in which a work of art is forged in the artist. His main works: L'avenir de l'esthetique (1929), L'instauration philosophique (1939), The correspondence des arts (1947), Les deux cent mille situations dramatiques (1950), Le sens artistique des animeaux (1965), L'abstraction sentimentale (1925), L'ombre de Dieu (1955).