 stronger understanding, Condillac meant to say that sensation produces all of the other capacities of the soul. On the weaker understanding, he only meant to say that sensation instructs us in the proper employment of our capacities. The weaker reading is compatible with allowing original, irreducible powers of memory and free choice, provided that we take those powers to be ones that we do not at first know how to effectively direct or employ. The stronger reading attributes an absolutely rigorous empiricism to Condillac — one that does not admit that the mind is endowed with any innate abilities. It is not clear what Condillac would have had to gain by insisting on such a rigorous empiricism. Locke's rejection of innate ideas and innate principles was bound up with a reaction to unquestioned authority and a demand that all knowledge claims be demonstrable by appeal to common experience. But allowing that we possess innate cognitive capacities and innate conative abilities does not interfere with this demand, particularly if we stress, as the weak reading does, that we need to learn how to employ these capacities and abilities, and that experience serves as our best and only true teacher. The pedagogical and methodological conclusions that Condillac most wanted to draw still follow from that qualification, without having to invoke the strong reading.
- Lettres inédites à Gabriel Cramer, Georges Le Roy (ed.), Paris: Press Universitaires de France, 1953.
- Les Monades, Bongie, Laurence (ed.), in Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 187, 1980.
- Oeuvres philosophiques, Georges Le Roy (ed.), 3 volumes,
Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1947–1951.
- Volume I (1947) contains the Essai sur l'origine des connoissances humaines, Traité des Systêmes, Traité des Sensations, “Dissertation sur la liberté,” “Réponse a un reproche qui m'a été fait sur le project exécuté dans le Traité des Sensations,” “Extrait raisonné du traité des sensations,” Traité des Animaux, “Lettre de monsieur l'abbé de Condillac à l'auteur des ‘Lettres à un Américan,’” “Discours de réception a l'académie Françoise,” and selections from the Cours d'études pour l'instruction du Prince de Parme, including the introduction to the course of studies, Grammaire, De l'art d'écrire, De l'art de raisonner, and De l'art de Penser, It is prefaced by Le Roy's introduction, surveying Condillac's life, the development of his thought, and his influence.
- Volume II (1948) contains excerpts from the treatment of ancient and modern history in the Cours d'études, Le Commerce et le Gouvernement, La Logique, La Langue des Calculs, and correspondence.
- Volume III (1951) contains the Dictionnaire des synonymes and a bibliography containing directions regarding Condillac manuscripts and correspondence.
- Condillac, Lefèvre, Roger, Vienne: Segliers, 1966. This contains substantial selections from Condillac's works interpersed with running commentary. It is an excellent introduction to his thought.
- Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge, Hans Aarsleff (trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
- La Logique/Logic, W. R. Albury (ed. and trans.), New York: Abaris, 1980. This is a bilingual edition with English translation and a facsimilie reproduction of an early French edition on facing pages. Unfortunately, the editor neglects to indicate which edition is being reproduced.
- Condillac's treatise on the sensations, Geraldine Carr (trans.), London: Favil Press, 1930.
- An Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge: being a supplement to Mr. Locke's essay on the human understanding, Thomas Nugent (trans.), London: J. Nourse, 1756. Reprinted in facsimilie, 1971, Gainsville: Scholar's Facsimilies and Reprints.
- Philosophical Writings of
Etienne Bonnot, Abbé de Condillac, 2 volumes,
Franklin Philip (trans.), Hillsdale NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum, 1982–87.
- Volume I (1982) contains A Treatise on Systems, A Treatise on Sensations, and Logic, or the First Developments of the Art of Thinking, The translation of Condillac's introduction to the Treatise on Sensations, cont