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Fragments on the Freedom of the Press, Paris (1776)
Source: Cambridge University Library : Condorcet, 'Fragments sur la liberté de la presse' (1776), in Oeuvres (Firmin Didot 1847) tome II, p. 253
Citation:
Fragments on the Freedom of the Press, Paris (1776), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
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312
The well-being of men depends partly on their
enlightenment, and the progress of enlightenment
depends partly on the legislation on printing.
Although this legislation did not have any influence
on the discovery of useful truths, it does have an
extraordinary influence on the way in which these
truths are circulated. It is one of the inevitable
causes of the difference which exists between the
opinions of enlightened men, those of the public and
the opinions of people who occupy [academic or political]
posts. All the bold opinions have been said and
repeated a long time ago; one cannot quote a single one
which hadn't already been advanced by the authors of
the seventeenth century, and renewed nowadays:
the majority of useful truths are unappreciated.
The history of rigorous laws against books, would
in itself suffice to disgust people.
The first man persecuted for a work regarded as
irreligious, was Aristotle. It is Tiberius who first
persecuted a historian and had his works burned. It was
not a mark which he wanted to imprint, it was the work
itself he wanted to destroy. One could genuinely achieve
this before the invention of printing: whereas at present
this burning is just a ceremony which has been preserved
through custom, though it has also been customary to mock
it during the last two centuries.
It was Francis I who established censorship in France,
at a time when his mistresses had not hardened him yet in
the true religion. Annoyed by the cries from the Sorbonne
against several men of letters whom he liked and who were
being accused of Lutheranism,
No Transcription available.
Source: Cambridge University Library : Condorcet, 'Fragments sur la liberté de la presse' (1776), in Oeuvres (Firmin Didot 1847) tome II, p. 253
Citation:
Fragments on the Freedom of the Press, Paris (1776), Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org
Back | Record | Images | Commentaries: [1]
Translation only | Transcription only | Show all | Bundled images as pdf
312
The well-being of men depends partly on their
enlightenment, and the progress of enlightenment
depends partly on the legislation on printing.
Although this legislation did not have any influence
on the discovery of useful truths, it does have an
extraordinary influence on the way in which these
truths are circulated. It is one of the inevitable
causes of the difference which exists between the
opinions of enlightened men, those of the public and
the opinions of people who occupy [academic or political]
posts. All the bold opinions have been said and
repeated a long time ago; one cannot quote a single one
which hadn't already been advanced by the authors of
the seventeenth century, and renewed nowadays:
the majority of useful truths are unappreciated.
The history of rigorous laws against books, would
in itself suffice to disgust people.
The first man persecuted for a work regarded as
irreligious, was Aristotle. It is Tiberius who first
persecuted a historian and had his works burned. It was
not a mark which he wanted to imprint, it was the work
itself he wanted to destroy. One could genuinely achieve
this before the invention of printing: whereas at present
this burning is just a ceremony which has been preserved
through custom, though it has also been customary to mock
it during the last two centuries.
It was Francis I who established censorship in France,
at a time when his mistresses had not hardened him yet in
the true religion. Annoyed by the cries from the Sorbonne
against several men of letters whom he liked and who were
being accused of Lutheranism,
No Transcription available.