Pringle (Allen), Canadian Freethinker, author of Ingersoll in Canada, 1880.
Proctor (Richard Anthony), English astronomer, b. Chelsea, 23 March, 1837. Educated at King’s College, London, and at St. John’s, Cambridge, where he became B.A. in ’60. In ’66 he became Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, of which he afterwards became hon. sec. He maintained in ’69 the since-established theory of the solar corona. He wrote, lectured, and edited, far and wide, and left nearly fifty volumes, chiefly popularising science. Attracted by Newman, he was for a while a Catholic, but thought out the question of Catholicism and science, and in a letter to the New York Tribune, Nov. ’75, formally renounced that religion as irreconcilable with scientific facts. His remarks on the so-called Star of Bethlehem in The Universe of Suns, and other Science Gleanings, and his Sunday lectures, indicated his heresy. In ’81 he started Knowledge, in which appeared many valuable papers, notably one (Jan. ’87), “The Beginning of Christianity.” He entirely rejected the miraculous elements of the gospels, which he considered largely a rechauffé of solar myths. In other articles in the Freethinkers’ Magazine and the Open Court he pointed out the coincidence between the Christian stories and solar myths, and also with stories found in Josephus. The very last article he published before his untimely death was a vindication of Colonel Ingersoll in his controversy with Gladstone in the North American Review. In ’84 he settled at St. Josephs, Mobille, where he contracted yellow fever and died at New York, 12 Sep. 1888.
Proudhon (Pierre Joseph), French anarchist and political thinker, b. Besançon, 15 Jan. 1809. Self-educated he became a printer, and won a prize of 1,500 francs for the person “best fitted for a literary or scientific career.” In ’40 appears his memoir, What is Property? in which he made the celebrated answer “C’est le vol.” In ’43 the Creation of Order in Humanity appeared, treating of religion, philosophy and logic. In ’46 he published his System of Economical Contradictions, in which appeared his famous aphorism, “Dieu, c’est le mal.” In ’48 he introduced his scheme of the organisation of credit in a Bank of the People, which failed, though Proudhon saw that no one lost anything. He attacked Louis Bonaparte when President, and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 francs. On 2 Jan. ’50 he married by private contract while in prison. For his work on Justice in the Revolution and in the Church he was condemned to three years’ imprisonment and 4,000 francs fine in ’58. He took refuge in Belgium and returned in ’63. Died at Passy, 19 Jan. 1865. Among his posthumous works was The Gospels Annotated, ’66. Proudhon was a bold and profound thinker of noble aspirations, but he lacked the sense of art and practicability. His complete works have been published in 26 vols.
Protagoras, Greek philosopher, b. Abdera, about 480 B.C. Is said to have been a disciple of Democritus, and to have been a porter before he studied philosophy. He was the first to call himself a sophist. He wrote in a book on the gods, “Respecting the gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or do not exist.” For this he was impeached and banished, and his book burnt. He went to Epirus and the Greek Islands, and died about 411. He believed all things were in flux, and summed up his conclusions in the proposition that “man is the measure of all things, both of that which exists and that which does not exist.” Grote, who defends the Sophists, says his philosophy “had the merit of bringing into forcible relief the essentially relative nature of cognition.”
Prudhomme (Sully). See [Sully Prudhomme].
Pückler Muskau (Hermann Ludwig Heinrich), Prince, a German writer, b. Muskau, 30 Oct. 1785. He travelled widely and wrote his observations in a work entitled Letters of a Defunct, 1830; this was followed by Tutti Frutti, ’32; Semilasso in Africa, ’36, and other works. Died 4 Feb. 1871.
Pushkin (Aleksandr Sergyeevich), eminent Russian poet, often called the Russian Byron, b. Pskow, 26 May, 1799. From youth he was remarkable for his turbulent spirit, and his first work, which circulated only in manuscript, was founded on Parny’s Guerre des Dieux, and entitled the Gabrielade, the archangel being the hero. He was exiled by the Emperor, but, inspired largely by reading Voltaire and Byron, put forward numerous poems and romances, of which the most popular is Eugene Onéguine, an imitation of Don Juan. He also wrote some histories and founded the Sovremennik (Contemporary), 1836. In Jan. 1837 he was mortally wounded in a duel.
Putnam (Samuel P.), American writer and lecturer, brought up as a minister. He left that profession for Freethought, and became secretary to the American Secular Union, of which he was elected president in Oct. 1887. In ’88 he started Freethought at San Francisco in company with G. Macdonald. Has written poems, Prometheus, Ingersoll and Jesus, Adami and Heva; romances entitled Golden Throne, Waifs and Wanderings, and Gottlieb, and pamphlets on the Problem of the Universe, The New God, and The Glory of Infidelity.
Putsage (Jules), Belgian follower of Baron Colins, founder of the Colins Philosophical Society at Mons; has written on Determinism and Rational Science, Brussels 1885, besides many essays in La Philosophie de L’Avenir of Paris and La Societe Nouvelle of Brussels.
Pyat (Felix) French socialist, writer and orator, b. Vierzon, 4 Oct. 1810. His father was religious and sent him to a Jesuit college at Bourges, but he here secretly read the writings of Beranger and Courier. He studied law, but abandoned it for literature, writing in many papers. He also wrote popular dramas, as The Rag-picker of Paris, ’47. After ’52 he lived in England, where he wrote an apology for the attempt of Orsini, published by Truelove, ’58. In ’71 he founded the journal le Combat. Elected to the National Assembly he protested against the treaty of peace, was named member of the Commune and condemned to death in ’73. He returned to France after the armistice, and has sat as deputy for Marseilles. Died, Saint Gerainte near Nice, 3 Aug. 1889.