condorcet: a biography. 183 



and established himself at Paris for the purpose with his old master, M. 

 Giraud de K6roudon. 



When Condorcet left college he was already a profound thinker. I 

 find in a letter of 1775, addressed to Turgot, and entitled My confession 

 of faith, that at the age of seventeen years the young scholar had seri- 

 ously reflected upon the moral ideas of justice and virtue, and upon the 

 question whether (leaving aside other considerations) it was to man's 

 interest to be just and virtuous. I give his solution of the question, 

 although not sure of its originality with him. I am quite convinced, 

 however, of the novelty of the extreme resolution to which it led him. 



"A sentient being suffers from the evil which another sentient being 

 experiences. In society, an unjust or criminal action cannot fail to injure 

 some one. The author of such an action has, then, the consciousness of 

 having caused suffering to one of his own kind. If the sensibility with 

 which nature has endowed him remains intact, he must therefore suffer 

 himself. In order, then, not to destroy his natural sensibility he must, 

 in self-interest, strengthen his ideas of virtue and justice." 



This conclusion followed naturally from the premises. It led the 

 young Condorcet to renounce entirely the chase, and prevented him from 

 killing even insects, provided that they did not harm him. 



There were very few subjects in regard to which Condorcet had, even 

 in early youth, vague and unformed opinions, and there is a beautiful 

 harmony between the various periods of his laborious and agitated 

 f career. We see him, while still a youth, place kindness towards ani- 

 mals among the most efficacious means for preserving natural sen- 

 sibility, — according to him, the principal source of all virtue. This idea 

 controlled him throughout life. Even just before his death, in the 

 admirable tract called Advice of an outlaw to Ms daughter, he writes these 

 touching exhortations: 



"My dear daughter, preserve in all its purity, all its force, the feeling 

 which leads us to share the sorrow of every sentient being. Do not 

 confine your sensibilities to the sufferings of the human race, but let 

 your humanity extend even to animals ; render those happy which be- 

 long to you; do not disdain to consider their well being ; be not insen- 

 sible to their naive and sincere gratitude; cause them no useless pain. 

 * * * Ti^e want of foresight in animals is the only excuse for that 

 barbarous law which impels them to uselessly destroy each other." 



I must seize the first opportunity which offers to show you Condorcet 

 resolutely following these principles. Such as he was in morals we find 

 him later in politics. 



The first fruit of the meditations to which Condorcet devoted himself 

 with M. Geraud de K6roudon was a work entitled Ussay upon the inte- 

 gral calculus. The author was only twenty-two when he presented it to 

 the Academy. Allow me to preface with a few general reflections what 

 I have to say of this treatise and of other mathematical works of Con- 

 dorcet. 



