Hippolyte A. Taine Books

Hippolyte Adolphe Taine was a French philosopher, critic, and historian, recognized as a chief theoretical influence of French naturalism. A major proponent of sociological positivism, he was among the first practitioners of historicist criticism, a movement said to originate with him. Taine is particularly remembered for his distinctive three-pronged approach to contextualizing works of art. He analyzed them based on what he termed "race, milieu, and moment."