Literary Encyclopedia

Marie-Jean Condorcet

  • David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de Condorcet made important contributions to the science of mathematical calculus and became associated with the philosophes whose development of Enlightenment ideas in France contributed so much to the French Revolution and to later European ideas of justice and civil rights. He was particularly influential in the early years of the Revolution, although he was to be arrested and murdered in the course of the terror. His Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain [Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind] (1794) became one of the most influential expressions of the Enlightenment belief in human progress.

The Marquis de Condorcet

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First published 26 April 2001

Citation: Williams, David. "Marie-Jean Condorcet". The Literary Encyclopedia. 26 April 2001

[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=980, accessed 30 July 2010.]

 

Life, Works and Times

Dates:

  • 1743 to 1794 (Life Span)
  • 1765 to 1794 (Activity Span)

Places:

  • France (Birth)
  • France (Primary Activity)

Activities:

  • Economist (Primary)
  • Educationalist (Primary)
  • Mathematician (Primary)
  • Philosopher (Primary)
  • Politician (Primary)
  • Reformer (Primary)
  • Instructional writer (Other)