Marquis de Condorcet
Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, marquis de Condorcet (September 17, 1743 - March 28, 1794) was a French philosopher and mathematician (and early political scientist) who devised Condorcet's method.
He was born in Ribemont[?], Aisne in 1743, and descended from the
ancient family of Caritat. The Caritat's took their title from the town of
Condorcet in Dauphiné, of which they were long time residents. His father died when he was very young. His mother was a very devoutly religious woman,
and had him educated at the Jesuit College in Reims and at the College of Navarre in Paris.
Condorcet quickly displayed his mental prowess in all endeavors. His first public
distinctions were gained in mathematics. When he was sixteen, his analytical abilities gained
the praise of D'Alembert and A.-C. Clairaut, and soon Condorcet would study under D'Alembert.
From 1765 to 1774, he focused on scientific endeavors. 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 Royal Academy of the Sciences.
In 1772, he published another paper on integral calculus which was
widely hailed as a groundbreaking paper on many fronts. Soon after writing
this, he met Jacques Turgot, a French economist, and the two became fast
friends. Turgot became an administrator under Louis XV in 1772, and
later became Controller General of Finance under Louis XVI in 1774.
In 1774, Condorcet was appointed Inspector General of the Mint by Turgot.
From this point, 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 rights and of
the blacks in particular. He supported the ideals embodied by the newly
formed United States of America, and proposed projects of political,
administrative and economic reforms intended to transform France.
In 1776, Turgot was dismissed as Controller General. Consequently,
Condorcet resigned as Inspector General of the Mint, but his resignation
was refused. He served this post until 1791. Condorcet later
wrote Vie de M. Turgot (1786), an expository biography of Turgot which
spoke fondly of Turgot and favoured Turgot's economic theories.
Condorcet would continue to receive prestigious appointments. In 1777,
Condorcet was appointed Secretary of the Académie des Sciences[?]. In 1782,
he was appointed secretary of the French Academy.
In 1785, Condorcet wrote the Essay on the Application of Analysis to the
Probability of Majority Decisions, one of his most important works. In
this, he explores the "Condorcet's paradox", which describes the
intransitivity of majority preference. Condorcet's paradox states that
it's 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. In this paper, he also outlines
Condorcet's method, a method designed to simulate pairwise elections
between all candidates in an election. He would have many debates with
Jean-Charles de Borda about the suitability of Condorcet's method
over the Borda count.
In 1786, Condorcet worked more on ideas for the differential and integral
calculus, giving a new treatment of infinitesimals. This work was never
printed. In 1789, he published Vie de Voltaire (1789), which agreed
with Voltaire in his opposition to the Church.
In 1789, the French Revolution swept France. Condorcet took a leading
role, hoping for a rationalist[?] reconstruction of society, and championed
many liberal causes. As a result, in 1791 he was elected as the Paris
representative in the Legislative Assembly, and then became the secretary of the Assembly. The Assembly adopted Condorcet's design for state education system, and Condorcet drafted a proposed Constitution for the new France.
However, Condorcet was soon to find himself on the unfortunate side of
history. There were two competing views on which direction France should
go, embodied by two political parties: the moderate Girondists who
favored a peaceful reconstruction of France, and the more radical
Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre who favored purging France of its
imperial past. Condorcet was a member of the Girondists, and voted
against the execution of Louis XVI.
The Girondist lost control of the assembly to the Jacobins in 1793. The
Jacobins drafted a new Constitution very different from the one that
Condorcet drafted. Condorcet criticized the new work, and as a result, he
was branded a traitor. On October 3, 1793, a warrant was issued for
Condorcet's arrest, for having dared to criticize the Constitution
presented by Harault de Sachelles.
The warrant for his arrest forced Condorcet into hiding. He hid for five
months in the house of Mrs. Vernet, street Servandoni, in Paris. It was
there that he wrote Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progr�s de
l'esprit humain, which was published posthumously in 1795. On March 25, 1794 Condorcet left his hidout, no longer convinced he was safe, and
attempted to flee Paris. He was arrested in Clamart[?] two days later (on the
27th), and put in prison in the Borough-the Equality (Borough-the-Queen, French: Bourg-la-Reine[?]). Two days later, he was found dead in his cell, having allegedly committed
suicide (some suspect he may have been murdered).
Table of contents
1 Early years
2 Condorcet the mathematician
3 Entering politics
4 Condorcet's paradox
5 French Revolution
6 In Hiding
1 References
2 External links
Early years
Condorcet the mathematician
Entering politics
Condorcet's paradox
French Revolution
In Hiding
References
External links