Etienne Bonnot de Condillac Quotes
Etienne Bonnot, abbe de Condillac, was a French Enlightenment philosopher and the principal continental developer of empiricism after Locke. His Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge and Treatise on Sensations developed a thoroughgoing sensationalism in which all human cognition is constructed by the transformation of sense impressions through attention, comparison, and language. The quotes below are attributed to Etienne Bonnot de Condillac, organized by topic.
Browse Etienne Bonnot de Condillac by topic
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac on God
-
“To the eye of God there are no numbers: seeing all things at one time, he counts nothing .”
As quoted in Physically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations on Physics and Astronomy (1997), p. 101.
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac on Knowledge
-
Attributed to Etienne Bonnot de Condillac:
“All knowledge is transformed sensation.”
-
Attributed to Etienne Bonnot de Condillac:
“The whole of metaphysics rests on the analysis of ideas.”
-
Attributed to Etienne Bonnot de Condillac:
“A well-made science is nothing but a well-made language.”
-
“It is not true that on an exchange of commodities we give value for value. On the contrary, each of the two contracting parties in every case, gives a less for a greater value. … If we really exchanged equal values, neither party could make a profit. And yet, they both gain, or ought to gain. Why? The value of a thing consists solely in its relation to our wants. What is more to the one is less to”
Le Commerce et le Gouvernement (1776), as quoted in Marx's Capital , Vol. I, Ch. 5. -
“The art of reasoning is nothing more than a language well arranged .”
As quoted in Antoine Lavoisier, Elements of Chemistry (trans. Robert Kerr, 1790), Preface, p. xiv. -
“The tone in which an Englishman expresses anger would, in Italy , be only a mark of surprise.”
As quoted in David Booth, The principles of English composition (1831), p. 8. -
“Our ideas are transformed sensations.”
As quoted in Treasury of Wisdom, Wit and Humor, Odd Comparisons and Proverbs (1878), p. 204.
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac on Mind
-
Attributed to Etienne Bonnot de Condillac:
“Language is the instrument of analysis.”
-
Attributed to Etienne Bonnot de Condillac:
“Sensations alone make us what we are.”
Etienne Bonnot de Condillac on Nature
-
“We shall not … begin this logic by definitions, axioms, or principles; we shall begin by observing the lessons which nature gives us.”
The Logic of Condillac (trans. Joseph Neef, 1809), "Of the Method of Thinking", p. 3.