ABSTRACT
Octave Hamelin was a leading idealist philosopher in France. He established a warm friendship with Emile Durkheim, remarkable since they were philosophically far removed from one another. The two items written by Durkheim about Hamelin, which are translated for the first time, raise a number of issues — the nature of the friendship between the two scholars, and the life, death and thought of Hamelin. However, the praise of Hamelin's moral qualities and pedagogical virtues occupies a much greater place in the obituary than the appreciation of his philosophical accomplishments. The philosopher is the property of philosophers, which is why, so soon after Hamelin's death, people have set out, for the benefit of the scientific community, to gather together any notes he may have left behind him. Hamelin's activity as a historian of philosophy was appreciated by Durkheim, as is documented by his introduction to Le systeme de Descartes.
