ABSTRACT
In 1793, the political tides turned against the Marquis de Condorcet, a French mathematician, philosopher, and politician who ran afoul of the insurgent Jacobins during the heady, radicalized days of the French Revolution. Fearing for his life, Condorcet fled to avoid arrest, and managed to remain safe in hiding for some months. Though he was sick, desperate, and betrayed—the ominous rise and fall of the guillotine was spreading throughout the nation—Condorcet nonetheless chose (at the urging of his wife) to pursue a book of fantastic optimism, his famous Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind, with his few remaining days. 1 Condorcet’s reflections on equality, human welfare, and the endless possibilities of medicine in the final section of this book say a great deal about how far ideas about human rights and health had come during the course of the Enlightenment.
