Even if a public garden in Moissac (France, Tarn-et-Garonne) bears today the name of Jean Izoulet (between the winding streets and the flood of 1930) is little known. Nevertheless Jean Izoulet born in the Quercy area held significant positions in the French intellectual world, since for more than thirty years he held the Distinguished Chair of social philosophy in the Collège de France. Born in Miramont in 1854 he died in Paris in 1929, he was deeply attached to the Tarn-et-Garonne department, in particular with the theme of decentralization. But he was particularly known for his thesis, The Modern City (1895), a global reflection on the evolution of society which earned him the esteem of many Republican secretaries of State (Léon Bourgeois quite particularly). Then in the 1920s he became known thanks to a highly critical reflection on the Western world, that of the "democracies" that he felt were deeply threatened. Without wishing to rehabilitate a complex and sometimes debatable way of thinking, we can nevertheless wish to make it known and give it its real place in the general movement of ideas (from the 1880s to the 1930s, characterized by many changes and many dangers).
