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Condorcet's Social Mathematic, A Few Tables
... 35 What Condorcet meant by "Mathématique Sociale" has been studied by several authors: see, in particular, Laboulle (1939), Granger (1956), Baker (1975), Williams (2004), Crépel and Gilain (1989), Perrot (1992, pp. 357-376), Crépel and Rieucau (2005), Rothschild (2001Rothschild ( , 2005, Monjardet (2008). against the mathematical radicalism advocated by D'Alembert (see Buffon 1749, Premiere Discourse;Diderot [1761] 1875; see also Krakeur and Krueger 1941;Casini 1988;Richards 2006;Hamel 2019). ...
The evolution of Ferdinando Galiani’s thought toward social mathematic has been neglected by scholars, and his attempt to establish political arguments on the analytical basis remains unexplored. The non-systematic nature of Galiani’s intuitions, due to his laziness, largely justifies this underestimation of his scientific program. This paper intends to show that the mature abbé Galiani follows an intellectual itinerary autonomous and parallel to that followed by Marquis de Condorcet in the same years. The anti-Physiocratique querelle represents Galiani’s methodological maturation. In contrast with Physiocratic economic doctrine, based on the primacy of deductive methodology, Galiani claims for economic science the realism of circumstance against aprioristic axiomatic hypotheses and rationalist generalizations. Galiani’s project, substantially similar to Marquis de Condorcet’s approach to social science, can be defined as Newtonian social mathematics opposed to Physiocratic Cartesian social mathematics.
... However, the science was new, and all remained to be done. It is this same science that Condorcet, in an even more ambitious way than before, called "social mathematic" in his 1793 "Tableau général" (on the different editions of this important text and their shortcomings, see Crépel and Rieucau 2005): ...
For many years, statistical methods have been an auxiliary tool in drawing conclusions in almost all scientific disciplines. The paper presents in a short, compact form selected benefits, threats and new trends in the use of statistical methods in research related to socio-economic geography in the era of widespread digitization. The structure of the work is based on: a) a historical sketch concerning the beginning of the use of these methods, development and breakthrough moments, with particular emphasis on the influence of Polish researchers, b) a sketch of historical changes in education, resulting in changes in the use of statistical methods by researchers, and c) the presentation of selected contemporary problems with their application in research, benefits and new trends. Both the problems and benefits resulting from the use of these methods are not new, but they appear in a new version in a situation where we have high-performance computers and advanced software, including (which is particularly important for geographers) Geographic Information Systems.
Over time, various thematic classifications have been put forward to organize science into a coherent system of specialized areas of research. From an analysis of the historical evolution of the criteria used to distinguish the sciences from one another, I propose in this paper a quadripartite typology for the different thematic classification systems propounded by scholars throughout the centuries. Basically, I argue that the criteria used to differentiate the sciences have been alternately drawn from their respective subject matters, kinds of knowledge, methods and aims. Then, I show that several reclassifications occurred in the thematic structure of science. Finally, I argue that such changes in the structure of learning displaced the modalities of contact between the objects, knowledge, methods and aims of the various branches of science, with the result of outlining reshaped intellectual territories conducive to the emergence of new areas of research.
This article transcripts and comments on two letters by Adam Smith, and two letters by his correspondent Joseph Nicolas de Windischgrätz. These letters belong to a rather rich and lengthy exchange—which would end at the beginning of 1788—composed of at least sixteen pieces. As with the rest of the correspondence between them, the letters published here refer to the prize proposed by Windischgrätz in 1784–85. The Programme of this prize was looking for general formulas that would normalize all types of property transfer. Adam Smith replied that the great diversity of human customs did not lend itself to such formulas. In spite of his reluctance Smith eventually agreed to help Windischgrätz, but the prize had no winner.
Condorcet’s public instruction
This paper brings out the originality of Condorcet’s analysis on the idea of human capital. If Smith is usually recognized as the father of the modern concept of human capital, Condorcet’s analysis relative to this concept are rarely mentionned. We show in this paper that Condorcet’s analysis distinguishes itself from Smith’s analysis, on the one hand, by its thought on the risky nature of human capital. On the other hand, he offers an original economic analysis about instruction by linking public instruction to arts and sciences progress.
Classification JEL : B1, I20, O3
This article discusses the contribution made by Francesco Fuoco (1774–1841) to the methodological debate in the early nineteenth century. In opposition to Say’s view, Fuoco defended the validity of the deductive method in economic analysis, upholding the mathématique sociale tradition. This perspective characterizes his main work, Saggi economici (1825–27), in which he expounded a systematic view of economic theory and synthesized, within the framework of deductive methodology, a typical subjectivist theory of value, drawn from Condillac, with the new Ricardian theory of distribution. As he engaged in defense of the deductive nature of economic analysis, Fuoco found confirmation of the validity of the mathématique sociale tradition in the Ricardian “new theory” of rent. In this analytical context, Fuoco’s original contribution lay in the importance that he assigned to the money function in the capitalist economy.
Dans cet article, nous nous int�ressons � une dimension particuli�re de la pens�e de Condorcet : la question de l'instruction publique dans son rapport au progr�s �conomique. Nous d�fendons l'id�e qu'� c�t� de sa dimension politique fr�quemment mise en lumi�re, le plan condorc�tien d'instruction, par son organisation et ses principes, est, entre autres fins, dirig� vers un objectif de progr�s �conomique. Nous argumentons ce point de vue en pr�sentant le lien entre les r�flexions de Condorcet sur l'innovation et le projet d'instruction publique. Nous montrons ainsi que la pens�e de Condorcet soutient d�j� l'id�e du r�le de l'�ducation sur le progr�s technologique et la croissance affrm� par les th�ories modernes du capital humain.
The “effet Condorcet” refers to the fact that the application of the pair-wise majority rule to individual preference orderings can generate a collective preference containing cycles. Condorcet's solution to deal with this disturbing fact has been recognized as the search for a median in a certain metric space. We describe the many areas of "applied" or "pure" mathematics where the notion of (metric) median has appeared. If it were actually necessary to give examples proving that “social mathematics” is mathematics, the median case would provide a convincing example.
[fre] Les entreprises ou les hommes s'exposent a une perte, dans la vue d'un profit Au meme titre que Voltaire pour ce qui concerne la justice et les lettres et que Turgot en matiere d'economie et de politique, d'Alembert est traditionnellement considere comme le mentor de Condorcet dans les sciences et les mathematiques. Pour autant, l'influence du coediteur de l'Encyclopedie sur les idees economiques de Condorcet doit-elle etre jugee marginale ? Justement pas : en partant d'une conception « mixte » des mathematiques qu'il partage avec d'Alembert et d'une interrogation sur les doutes probabilistes de ce dernier, Condorcet est amene a developper une theorie du choix en univers incertain qui depasse le domaine classique des jeux de hasard ou des assurances pour s'etendre a celui de l'entreprise economique en tant que telle, qu'elle soit de culture, de commerce ou d'industrie. Ce faisant, il soumet le facteur risque a une formalisation probabi-liste sans precedent lorsqu'il envisage le profit percu par l'entrepreneur. [eng] Enterprises where men are exposed to loss with a view to profit: Condorcet and the d'Alembert's legacy Like Voltaire in the fields of justice and letters, and Turgot in economics and politics, d'Alembert is traditionally considered as the mentor of Condorcet in sciences and mathematics. Accordingly, should the influence of the Encyclopedia's coeditor on the economic ideas of Condorcet be judged marginal ? Precisely not : while adopting d'Alembert's mixed approach of mathematics and questionning the probabilistic doubts of the latter, Condorcet is lead to develop a theory of choice under uncertainty which goes beyond the standard scope of games of chance or insurances and embraces the economic enterprise as such, whether agricultural, commercial or manufacturai. By the way, his study of the entrepreneur's profit affords a probabilistic formalization of risk without precedent.
Fourteen unpublished letters by Sophie de Grouchy and the editors of Condorcet’s “Complete Works”This unpublished correspondence concerns mainly the publication of Condorcet’s so-called Complete Works published in the summer of 1804. The letters provide information on the people in the circle around Condorcet’s wife Sophie de Grouchy who helped in the preparation of this edition. There are also details concerning its incomplete nature, as most of Condorcet’s mathematic work in particular was left out.
6 nivôse an VII (Dec. 26, 1798) & 29 nivôse an VII
- Grouchy
- De
The General Distribution of Human Knowledge”, Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning
- F Bacon
Les calculs économiques et financiers de Condorcet pendant la Révolution
- P Crepel
Recherches sur les rentes, les emprunts et les remboursemens
- E E Duvillard De Durand
Première esquisse du Tableau général de la mathématique sociale
- Durand Duvillard De
Présentation, Première partie (Mathématiques)
- C Gilain
- C Houzel
Condorcet-Mathématique sociale”, Dictionnaire historique de la pensée sociologique
- J N Rieucau
Condorcet, la théorie des probabilités et les calculs financiers
- P Crepel
Présentation”. Journal d'instruction sociale
- M Dorigny
Journal d'instruction sociale”, Dictionnaire historique de la Révolution française
- M Dorigny
1813–1814) Souvenirs
- Ee Duvillard De Durand
Sur la manière de former les tables des planètes par les seules observations
- J L Lagrange
Du nouvel établissement public de l'instruction en France”
- E J Sieyes
Discours préliminaire
- D 'alembert J Le
Abbé de) (1765) Institutions de géométrie
- La Chapelle
Mémoire sur l'utilité de la méthode de prendre le milieu entre les résultats de plusieurs observations
- J L Lagrange
Le premier actuaire de France: Duvillard (1755-1832), Paris, Comité d'histoire de la Sécurité sociale
- G Thuillier
Condorcet, Guide de la Révolution française
- F Alengry
La mesure de l'Éeacute
- E Brian
Compte rendu de “Table ronde: Editer Condorcet aujourd'hui
- E Brian
Explication détaillée du système des connaissances humaines”-appendix to
- D Diderot
Système figuré des connaissances humaines
- D Diderot
) & 29 nivôse an VII
- S Grouchy
- De
Procès-verbaux du Comité d'instruction publique de la Convention nationale, t. I
- J Guillaume
Nouvelles notes de critique génétique: la troisième dimension de la littérature
- L Hay
Condorcet contre l'optimisme: de la combinatoire historique au méliorisme politique
- L Loty