ABSTRACT
Ideology is defined by Destutt de Tracy as the science of the formation, expression, and combination of ideas; he also defines it, even more succinctly, as the study of people's ways of knowing. Freedom was at least as intrinsic as happiness to the thinking of Ideologists like Tracy, Volney, and Cabanis, as might be expected given their Enlightenment inheritance and the fact that they came to maturity around the time of the French Revolution. The young Henri Martineau had himself made this choice, devoting himself to the study of mathematics with a view to leaving his controlling family behind him and beginning a new life in Paris as a student. Henri never explicitly recommends that Pauline Beyle renounce her desire for independence. In fact, he continues to try to stimulate her desire for freedom, for example by encouraging her to use her married and child-free state to her advantage by travelling.
