It is quite possible to view French philosophy during the last twenty years of the Third Republic (1920–40) as little more than an extension of the preceding twenty years. All the main figures of the earlier period (Bergson, Brunschvicg, Meyerson, Boutroux) continue to produce major works. Important younger philosophers are usually readily placed in the old traditions. For example, Louis Lavelle and Rene LeSenne develop a “philosophy of spirit” that has close affinities with the old spiritualism of Maine de Biran and Ravaisson; and Gaston Bachelard continues the tradition of French history and philosophy of science. From this viewpoint, the most original development is that of distinctively Catholic philosophy, both in Blondel's “philosophy of action” and in Maritain's neo-Thomism. But this development remains relatively isolated, precisely because of its strongly sectarian inclinations and is, in any case, still connected to Bergson and the earlier spiritualist tradition.