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"Condorcet" redirects here. For other uses, see Condorcet (disambiguation).
Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet

Marquis de Condorcet
Born September 17, 1743
Ribemont, Aisne
Died March 28, 1794
Bourg-la-Reine
Occupation philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist
Spouse Sophie de Condorcet

Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet (September 17, 1743 – March 28, 1794) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist who devised the concept of a Condorcet method. Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec Year 1743 ( MDCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 37 - Roman Emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate. Year 1794 ( MDCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems A Condorcet method is any single-winner election method that meets the Condorcet criterion, that is which always selects the Condorcet winner, the candidate Unlike many of his contemporaries, he advocated a liberal economy, free and equal public education, constitutionalism, and equal rights for women and people of all races. Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal Public education is education mandated for or offered to the children of the general public by the Government, whether national regional or local provided by an institution For the revolt in Brazil, see Constitutionalist Revolution. The term Constitutionalism is a word with a variety of meanings Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect His ideas and writings were said to embody the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment and rationalism, and remain influential to this day. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 He died a mysterious death in prison after a period of being a fugitive from French Revolutionary authorities.

Contents

Early life

Condorcet was born in Ribemont, Aisne, and descended from the ancient family of Caritat, who took their title from the town of Condorcet in Dauphiné, of which they were long-time residents. Ribemont is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France. Aisne (ɛn is a department in the northern part of France named after the Aisne River. Condorcet is a commune in the Drôme department in the Rhône-Alpes région in southeastern France. The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, roughly corresponding to the present departments ' of the Fatherless at a young age, he was raised by his devoutly religious mother. He was educated at the Jesuit College in Reims and at the Collège de Navarre in Paris, where he quickly showed his intellectual ability, and gained his first public distinctions in mathematics. The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order Reims (alternative English spelling Rheims; riːmz in English and /ʁɛ̃s/ in French) is a city of the Champagne-Ardenne région of northern The College of Navarre ( Collège de Navarre) was one of the Colleges of the historic University of Paris. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city Mathematics is the body of Knowledge and Academic discipline that studies such concepts as Quantity, Structure, Space and When he was sixteen, his analytical abilities gained the praise of Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Alexis Clairault; soon, Condorcet would study under d'Alembert. Alexis Claude de Clairault (or Clairaut) ( May 3, 1713 – May 17, 1765) was a French Mathematician and

From 1765 to 1774, he focused on science. In 1765, he published his first work on mathematics entitled Essai sur le calcul intégral, which was very well received, launching his career as a respected mathematician. He would go on to publish many more papers, and on February 25, 1769, he was elected to the Académie royale des Sciences (French Royal Academy of Sciences). Events 138 - The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor Year 1769 ( MDCCLXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The French Academy of Sciences ( French: Académie des sciences) is a Learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the

Jacques Turgot was Condorcet's mentor and longtime friend
Jacques Turgot was Condorcet's mentor and longtime friend

In 1772, he published another paper on integral calculus which was widely hailed as a groundbreaking paper in several domains. The European Space Agency 's INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory ( INTEGRAL) is detecting some of the most energetic radiation that comes from space Soon after, he met Jacques Turgot, a French economist, and the two became friends. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot Baron de Laune, often referred to as Turgot ( 10 May 1727 &ndash 18 March 1781) was a French Turgot was to be an administrator under King Louis XV in 1772, and later became Controller-General of Finance under Louis XVI (in 1774). List of Queens and Empresses of France Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below Louis XV (15 February 1710 &ndash 10 May 1774 ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774 This page is a list of French finance ministers, including the equivalent positions of Superintendent of Finances and Controller-General of Finances Louis XVI ( 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) Louis-Auguste de France, ruled as King of France and Navarre

Condorcet was recognized worldwide and worked with such famous scientists as Leonhard Euler and Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Franklin ( April 17 1790 was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He soon became an honorary member of many foreign academies and philosophic societies notably in Germany, Imperial Russia, and the United States. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

Early political career

In 1774, Condorcet was appointed Inspector General of the Monnaie de Paris by Turgot. In a civilian or military administration an Inspector General is a high ranking official charged with the mission to inspect and report on some bodies in their field of competency The Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint) or more administratively speaking the "Direction of Coins and Medals" is an administration of the From this point on, Condorcet shifted his focus from the purely mathematical to philosophy and political matters. In the following years, he took up the defense of human rights in general, and of women's and Blacks' rights in particular (an abolitionist, he became active in the Society of the Friends of the Blacks in the 1780s). Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled The term black people usually refers to a racial group of Humans with dark Skin color, but the term has also been used to categorise a number of diverse Abolitionism was a political movement of the 18th and 19th century which sought to make Slavery illegal particularly in the United States and British West Indies The Society of the Friends of the Blacks ( French: Société des amis des Noirs or Amis des noirs) was a group of French men mostly white, which He supported the ideals embodied by the newly formed United States, and proposed projects of political, administrative and economic reforms intended to transform France.

In 1776, Turgot was dismissed as Controller General. Consequently, Condorcet submitted his resignation as Inspector General of the Monnaie, but the request was refused, and he continued serving in this post until 1791. Condorcet later wrote Vie de M. Turgot (1786), a biography which spoke fondly of Turgot and advocated Turgot's economic theories. A biography (from the Greek words bíos (βίος meaning "life" and gráphein (γράφειν meaning "to write" is an account Condorcet continued to receive prestigious appointments: in 1777, he became Permanent Secretary of the Académie des Sciences, holding the post until the abolition of the Académie in 1793, and in 1782 secretary of the Académie Française. The French Academy of Sciences ( French: Académie des sciences) is a Learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the L'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language.

Condorcet's paradox

In 1785, Condorcet wrote the Essay on the Application of Analysis to the Probability of Majority Decisions, one of his most important works. This work described several now famous results, including Condorcet's jury theorem, which says that aggregating independent random estimates of a binary variable increases the probability of correctness if and only if the probability of error of each estimate is less than one half, and Condorcet's paradox, which shows that majority preferences become intransitive with three or more options—it is possible for a majority to prefer A over B, another majority to prefer B over C, and another majority to prefer C over A, all from the same electorate and same set of ballots. Condorcet's jury theorem is a Political science theorem about the relative probability of a given group of individuals arriving at a correct decision The voting paradox (also known as Condorcet's paradox or the paradox of voting) is a situation noted by the Marquis de Condorcet in the late 18th century In Mathematics, the term intransitivity is used for related but different properties of Binary relations The property of not being transitive A ballot is a device (originally a small ball—see blackball) used to record choices made by Voters Each voter uses one ballot and ballots are not

The paper also outlines a generic Condorcet method, designed to simulate pair-wise elections between all candidates in an election. A Condorcet method is any single-winner election method that meets the Condorcet criterion, that is which always selects the Condorcet winner, the candidate An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office He disagreed strongly with the alternative method of aggregating preferences put forth by Jean-Charles de Borda (based on summed rankings of alternatives). Jean-Charles chevalier de Borda ( May 4, 1733 – February 19, 1799) was a French Mathematician, Physicist Non-parametric statistics is a branch of Statistics concerned with non-parametric Statistical models and non-parametric inference, including non-parametric Condorcet was one of the first to systematically apply mathematics in the social sciences. The social sciences comprise academic disciplines concerned with the study of the social life of human groups and individuals including Anthropology, Communication studies

Other works

In 1786, Condorcet worked on ideas for the differential and integral calculus, giving a new treatment of infinitesimals - a work which was never printed. In Calculus, a branch of mathematics the derivative is a measurement of how a function changes when the values of its inputs change The European Space Agency 's INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory ( INTEGRAL) is detecting some of the most energetic radiation that comes from space Infinitesimals (from a 17th century Modern Latin coinage infinitesimus, originally referring to the " Infinite[[ th]]" member of a series have In 1789, he published Vie de Voltaire (1789), which agreed with Voltaire in his opposition to the Church. François-Marie Arouet ( 21 November 1694 30 May 1778) better known by the Pen name Voltaire, was a French In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote an Essay on the Principle of Population partly in response to Condorcet's views on the "perfectibility of society". Thomas Robert Malthus FRS (13 February 1766 – 23 December 1834 was an English political economist and demographer who expressed views Perfection is broadly a state of completeness and flawlessness In 1781, Condorcet wrote a pamphlet, Reflections on Negro Slavery, in which he denounced slavery. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another [1]

Condorcet is also credited for first expressing Condorcet's jury theorem. Condorcet's jury theorem is a Political science theorem about the relative probability of a given group of individuals arriving at a correct decision It states that if each member of a voting group is more likely than not to make a correct decision, the probability that the highest vote of the group is the correct decision increases as the number of members of the group increases.

French Revolution

Deputy

Condorcet took a leading role when the French Revolution swept France in 1789, hoping for a rationalist reconstruction of society, and championed many liberal causes. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an In Epistemology and in its broadest sense rationalism is "any view appealing to Reason as a source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286 Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal As a result, in 1791 he was elected as a Paris representative in the Assemblée, and then became the secretary of the Assembly. During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1 1791 to September 1792. The institution adopted Condorcet's design for state education system, and he drafted a proposed Bourbon Constitution for the new France. A constitutional monarchy, or a limited monarchy, is a form of Constitutional Government, wherein either an elected or hereditary Monarch is He advocated women's suffrage for the new government, writing an article for Journal de la Société de 1789, and by publishing De l'admission des femmes au droit de cité ("For the Admission to the Rights of Citizenship For Women")in 1790.

There were two competing views on which direction France should go, embodied by two political parties: the moderate Girondists, and the more radical Montagnards, led by Maximilien Robespierre, who favored purging France of its royal past (Ancien Régime). The Girondists (in French Girondins, and sometimes Brissotins or "Baguettes" were a political faction in France within the Legislative The Mountain (in French La Montagne) refers in the context of the history of the French Revolution to a political group whose members called Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (maksimiljɛ̃ fʁɑ̃swa maʁi izidɔʁ də ʁɔbɛspjɛʁ ( 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) The House of Bourbon is an important European Royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Ancien Régime ( pronounced: /ɑ̃sjɛ̃ ʁeʒim/ refers primarily to the aristocratic social and political system established in Condorcet was quite independent, but still counted many friends in the Girondist party. He presided over the Assembly as the Girondist held the majority, until it was replaced by the National Convention, elected in order to design a new constitution (the French Constitution of 1793), and which abolished the monarchy in favor of the French Republic as a consequence of the Flight to Varennes. During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the Constitutional and legislative assembly The Constitution of 1793, Constitution of 24 June 1793 ( French: " Acte constitutionnel du 24 juin 1793 ") or Montagnard The First Republic in France, officially the French Republic (République française was proclaimed on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The Flight to Varennes ( June 20 - 21, 1791) was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France

At the time of King Louis XVI's trial, the Girondists had, however, lost their majority in the Convention. Louis XVI ( 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) Louis-Auguste de France, ruled as King of France and Navarre Condorcet, who opposed the death penalty but still supported the trial itself, spoke out against the execution of the King during the public vote at the Convention. Capital punishment, the death penalty or execution, is the Killing of a person by judicial process as Punishment. From that moment on, he was usually considered a Girondist. The Montagnards were becoming more and more influential in the Convention as the King's "betrayal" was confirming their theories. One of them, Marie-Jean Hérault de Seychelles, a member, like Condorcet, of the Constitution's Commission, misrepresented many ideas from Condorcet's draft and presented what was called a Montagnard Constitution. Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles ( September 20, 1759 &ndash April 5, 1794) was a French politician during the time of the Condorcet criticized the new work, and as a result, he was branded a traitor. In Law, treason is the Crime that covers some of the more serious acts of disloyalty to one's sovereign or Nation. On October 3, 1793, a warrant was issued for Condorcet's arrest. Events 42 BC - First Battle of Philippi: Triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian fight an indecisive battle with Caesar's Year 1793 ( MDCCXCIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common In Law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial Jurisdiction.

Arrest and death

Condorcet was symbolically interred in the Panthéon (pictured) in 1989.
Condorcet was symbolically interred in the Panthéon (pictured) in 1989. The Panthéon ( Latin Pantheon, from Greek Pantheon meaning "All the gods" is a building in the Latin Quarter

The warrant forced Condorcet into hiding. He hid for five (or eight) months in the house of Mme. Vernet, on Rue Servandoni, in Paris. It was there that he wrote Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain (English translation: Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind), which was published posthumously in 1795 and is considered one of the major texts of the Enlightenment and of historical thought. It narrates the history of civilization as one of progress in the sciences, shows the intimate connection between scientific progress and the development of human rights and justice, and outlines the features of a future rational society entirely shaped by scientific knowledge. Scientific progress is the idea that Science increases its problem solving ability through the application of some Scientific method.

On March 25, 1794 Condorcet, convinced he was no longer safe, left his hideout and attempted to flee Paris. Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. Year 1794 ( MDCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Two days later he was arrested in Clamart and imprisoned in the Bourg-la-Reine (or, as it was known during the Revolution, Bourg-l'Égalité, "Equality Borough" rather than "Queen's Borough"). Clamart is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. Bourg-la-Reine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. Two days after that, he was found dead in his cell. The most widely accepted theory is that his friend, Pierre Jean George Cabanis, gave him a poison which he eventually used. Pierre Jean George Cabanis ( June 5, 1757 - May 5, 1808) was a French Physiologist. However, some historians believe that he may have been murdered (perhaps because he was too loved and respected to be executed).

Condorcet was interred in the Panthéon in 1989, in honor of the bicentennial of the French Revolution and Condorcet's role as a central figure in the Enlightenment. The Panthéon ( Latin Pantheon, from Greek Pantheon meaning "All the gods" is a building in the Latin Quarter However his coffin was empty : interred in the common cemetery of Bourg-la-Reine, his remains were lost during the nineteenth century.

Family

In 1786 Condorcet married Sophie de Grouchy, who was more than twenty years his junior. Sophie de Condorcet (1764 Meulan &ndash 8 September 1822, Paris) best known as Madame de Condorcet, was a prominent salon His wife, reckoned one of the most beautiful women of the day, became an accomplished salon hostess as Madame de Condorcet, and also an accomplished translator of Thomas Paine and Adam Smith. A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through Thomas Paine (January 29 1737 &ndash June 8 1809 was an English Pamphleteer, Revolutionary, radical, Inventor, and Intellectual Adam Smith ( baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of Political economy. She was erudite, intelligent, and well-educated, fluent in both English and Italian. The marriage was a strong one, and Sophie visited her husband regularly while he remained in hiding. Although she began proceedings for divorce in January 1794, it was at the insistence of Condorcet and Cabanis, who wished to protect their property from expropriation and to provide financially for Sophie and their young child, a daughter Louise Alexandrine, known as Eliza, who had been born in 1790.

Condorcet was survived by his widow and their four-year-old daughter Eliza. Sophie died in 1822, never having remarried, and having published all her husband's works between 1801 and 1804. Her work was carried on by their daughter Eliza Condorcet-O'Connor, wife of former United Irishman Arthur O'Connor. Arthur O'Connor ( July 4, 1763 &ndash April 25, 1852) was a United Irishman and later a General in Napoleon The Condorcet-O'Connors brought out a revised edition between 1847 and 1849.

Condorcet and progress

Condorcet's writings were a key contribution to the French Enlightenment, particularly his work on the concept of human progress. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Historical progress has been a main object of Philosophy of history. Previously it had been inconceivable to believe that man could come to understand everything about the natural world. Condorcet believed that through the use of our senses and communication with others, knowledge could be compared and contrasted as a way of analyzing our systems of belief and understanding. None of Condorcet's writings refer a belief in a religion or a god who intervenes in human affairs. Condorcet instead frequently had written of his faith in humanity itself and its ability to progress with the help of ethical philosophers such as Aristotle. Through this accumulation and sharing of knowledge he believed it was possible for any man to comprehend all the known facts of the natural world. The enlightenment of the natural world spurred the desire for enlightenment of the social and political world. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Condorcet believed that there was no definition of the perfect human existence and thus believed that the progression of the human race would inevitably continue throughout the course of our existence. He envisioned man as continually progressing toward a perfectly utopian society. Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the However, he stressed that for this to be a possibility man must unify regardless of race, religion, culture or gender.

See also

References

  1. ^ Bottomore, Tom, Robert Nisbet (1978). Liberalism is a broad array of related ideas and theories of Government that consider individual Liberty to be the most important political goal This is a partial list of individual contributions to liberal political theory on a worldwide scale The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Condorcet's jury theorem is a Political science theorem about the relative probability of a given group of individuals arriving at a correct decision Overview In scientific contexts the term 'transdisciplinarity' is used in various ways A History of Sociological Analysis. Basic Books, p. 19.  

Other references

External links

Preceded by
Bernard-Joseph Saurin		 Seat 39
Académie française
1782–1794		 Succeeded by
Gabriel Villar


Persondata
NAME Caritat, Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas, Marquis de Condorcet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION philosopher, mathematician, and early political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1743
PLACE OF BIRTH Ribemont, Aisne
DATE OF DEATH March 28, 1794
PLACE OF DEATH Bourg-la-Reine
Events 1472 - Orkney and Shetland are left by Norway to Scotland, due to a Dowry payment Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. This is about the university in New York; for other uses see New School (disambiguation. the University (or derivatives but lower-case when referring to many universitiesor universities Bernard-Joseph Saurin was a lawyer poet and playwright born in Paris in 1706 and who died in that city on 17 November 1781. This is a list of members of the Académie française (French Academy by seat number L'Académie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. Events 1176 - The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought 1462 - The Battle of Świecino (or Battle of Żarnowiec Year 1743 ( MDCCXLIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 37 - Roman Emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, entitled to him by the Senate. Year 1794 ( MDCCXCIV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Bourg-la-Reine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France.
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