French mathematician and philosopher, 1743-94, author of Tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain
Fishburn and Hughes: "A French philosopher and mathematician, a supporter of Voltaire and the Enlightenment. During the Revolution Condorcet became an active member of the Girondist faction. He was imprisoned on 7 April 1794 and found dead the next day. Condorcet wrote various essays on probability, but his most interesting work is his Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (translated into English in 1955). Condorcet's sketch develops the theory that humanity has reached the ninth stage in its sociological progress, starting from a condition of total savagery and moving towards complete enlightenment which will be fully achieved in the tenth stage. Condorcet specifies that throughout these stages certain characteristics will reappear." (49)