Simon, Jules François (1814–1896)

French politician and philosopher. He was prime minister 1876–77. As minister of the interior, he put down the resistance of Léon Gambetta to the peace concluded after the Franco-Prussian War 1870–71.

Simon became professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne in 1839, but was later deprived of his chair because of his liberal political opinions. After the fall of the empire, he was made minister of public instruction by the provisional government 1871. In 1875 he was elected a member of the French Academy and a life senator. On the resignation of Jules Dufaure 1876 he became premier, but his policy of conciliation and the hostility of the Republicans alarmed President MacMahon, who virtually invited him to resign 1877.