Alfred Naquet
From Philosopedia
Naquet, Joseph Alfred (6 October 1834 - 10 November 1916)
Naquet, a French materialist, became a physician in 1859. In 1867 he was imprisoned for fifteen months for belonging to a secret society. With M. Regnard, he founded the Revue Encyclopédique, which was suppressed at once for containing an attack on theism.
After being a professor of chemistry at Paris and Palermo, Naquet upon returning to Paris expressed so openly the advanced views he had cultivated among the Garibaldians that in 1867 he received fifteen months in prison.
In 1869, however, he continued the attack with a book, Religion, Propriété, Famille, this time being fined five hundred francs and sentenced to four months’ imprisonment and the loss of civil rights for life.
From 1871 to 1882 he was in the Chambre, passing to the Senate in 1882. During that time, he secured the passing of liberal divorce laws.
A leading champion at Paris of the innocence of F. Ferrer, Naquet was an agnostic. In 1883 he was elected to the Senate. Naquet represented Vaueluse in the National Assembly, where he voted with the extreme left. The divorce law in France was passed chiefly through his advocacy.
