Some claim that it was invented by the philosopher Victor Cousin, although Angela Leighton in the publication On Form: Poetry, Aestheticism and the Legacy of a Word (2007) notes that the phrase was used by Benjamin Constant as early as 1804.
Unii susțin că acesta a fost inventat de filozoful Victor Cousin, deși Angela Leighton în studiul On Form: Poetry, Aestheticism and the Legacy of a Word (2007) observă că expresia a fost folosită de către Benjamin Constant anterior anului 1804.