Étienne Henry Gilson, the French neo-Thomist philosopher, was born in Paris. His higher education was acquired at the University of Paris. In 1907 he received his agrégé and in 1913, after several years of teaching, his doctorate, publishing both his minor and major theses, Index scolastico-cartésien and La liberté chez Descartes et la théologie. The years 1914–1916 saw Gilson serving France as an officer on the battlefield. Captured at Verdun, he was a prisoner of war from 1916 to 1918. He spent two years as professor of philosophy at the University of Strasbourg and in 1921 became professor of the history of medieval philosophy at the Sorbonne, in which position he served until 1932, when he accepted the chair of the history of medieval philosophy at the Collège de France, where he taught until 1951. Gilson cooperated with members of the Congregation...