Combe (Andrew), physician, brother of the above, b. Edinburgh, 27 Oct. 1797; studied there and in Paris; aided his brother George in founding the Phrenological Society; wrote popular works on the Principles of Physiology and the Management of Infancy. Died near Edinburgh, 9 Aug. 1847.
Combe (George), phrenologist and educationalist, b. Edinburgh, 21 Oct. 1788. He was educated for the law. Became acquainted with Spurzheim, and published Essays on Phrenology, 1819, and founded the Phrenological Journal. In ’28 he published the Constitution of Man, which excited great controversy especially for removing the chimeras of special providence and efficacy of prayer. In ’33 he married a daughter of Mrs. Siddons. He visited the United States and lectured on Moral Philosophy and Secular Education. His last work was The Relations between Science and Religion, ’57, in which he continued to uphold Secular Theism. He also published many lectures and essays. Among his friends were Miss Evans (George Eliot), who spent a fortnight with him in ’52. He did more than any man of his time, save Robert Owen, for the cause of Secular education. Died at Moor Park, Surrey, 14 Aug. 1858.
Combes (Paul), French writer, b. Paris, 13 June, 1856. Has written on Darwinism, ’83, and other works popularising science.
Commazzi (Gian-Battista), Count author of Politica e religione trovate insieme nella persona di Giesù Cristo, Nicopoli [Vienna] 4 vols., 1706–7, in which he makes Jesus to be a political impostor. It was rigorously confiscated at Rome and Vienna.
Comparetti (Domenico), Italian philologist, b. Rome in 1835. Signor Comparetti is Professor at the Institute of Superior Studies, Rome, and has written many works on the classic writers, in which he evinces his Pagan partialities.
Comte (Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier), French philosopher, mathematician and reformer, b. at Montpelier, 12 Jan. 1798. Educated at Paris in the Polytechnic School, where he distinguished himself by his mathematical talent. In 1817 he made the acquaintance of St. Simon, agreeing with him as to the necessity of a Social renovation based upon a mental revolution. On the death of St. Simon (’25) Comte devoted himself to the elaboration of an original system of scientific thought, which, in the opinion of some able judges, entitles him to be called the Bacon of the nineteenth century. Mill speaks of him as the superior of Descartes and Leibniz. In ’25 he married, but the union proved unhappy. In the following year he lectured, but broke down under an attack of brain fever, which occasioned his detention in an asylum. He speedily recovered, and in ’28 resumed his lectures, which were attended by men like Humboldt, Ducrotay, Broussais, Carnot, etc. In ’30 he put forward the first volumes of his Course of Positive Philosophy, which in ’42 was completed by the publication of the sixth volume. A condensed English version of this work was made by Harriet Martineau, ’53. In ’45 Comte formed a passionate Platonic attachement to Mme. Clotilde de Vaux, who died in the following year, having profoundely influenced Comte’s life. In consequence of his opinions, he lost his professorship, and was supported by his disciples—Mill, Molesworth and Grote, in England, assisting. Among other works, Comte published A General View of Positivism, ’48, translated by Dr. Bridges, ’65; A System of Positive Polity, ’51, translated by Drs. Bridges, Beesley, F. Harrison, etc., ’75–79; and A Positive Catechism, ’54, translated by Dr. Congreve, ’58. He also wrote on Positive Logic, which he intended to follow with Positive Morality and Positive Industrialism. Comte was a profound and suggestive thinker. He resolutely sets aside all theology and metaphysics, coordinates the sciences and substitutes the service of man for the worship of God. Mr. J. Cotter Morison says “He belonged to that small class of rare minds, whose errors are often more valuable and stimulating than other men’s truths.” He died of cancer in the stomach at Paris, 5 Sept. 1857.
Condillac (Etienne Bonnot de), French philosopher, b. Grenoble, about 1715. His life was very retired, but his works show much acuteness. They are in 23 vols., the principal being A Treatise on the Sensations, 1764; A Treatise on Animals, and An Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge. In the first-named he shows that all mental life is gradually built up out of simple sensations. Died 3 Aug. 1780.
Condorcet (Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de), French philosopher and politician, b. Ribemont, Picardy, 17 Sept. 1743. Dedicated to the Virgin by a pious mother, he was kept in girl’s clothes until the age of 11. Sent to a Jesuit’s school, he soon gave up religion. At sixteen he maintained a mathematical thesis in the presence of Alembert. In the next year he dedicated to Turgot a Profession of Faith. After some mathematical works, he was made member of the Academy, of which he was appointed perpetual secretary, 1773. In 1776 he published his atheistic Letters of a Theologian. He also wrote biographies of Turgot and Voltaire, and in favor of American independence and against negro slavery. In 1791 he represented Paris in the National Assembly, of which he became Secretary. It was on his motion that, in the following year, all orders of nobility were abolished. Voting against the death of the king and siding with the Gironde drew on him the vengeance of the extreme party. He took shelter with Madame Vernet, but fearing to bring into trouble her and his wife, at whose instigation he wrote his fine Sketch of the Progress of the Human Mind while in hiding, he left, but, being arrested, died of exhaustion or by poison self-administered, at Bourg la Reine, 27 March, 1794.
Condorcet (Sophie de Grouchy Caritat, Marquise de), wife of above, and sister of General Grouchy and of Mme. Cabanis, b. 1765. She married Condorcet 1786, and was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time. She shared her husband’s sentiments and opinions and, while he was proscribed, supported herself by portrait painting. She was arrested, and only came out of prison after the fall of Robespierre. She translated Adam Smith’s Theory of the Moral Sentiments, which she accompanied with eight letters on Sympathy, addressed to Cabanis. She died 8 Sept. 1822. Her only daughter married Gen. Arthur O’Connor.
Confucius (Kung Kew) or Kung-foo-tsze, the philosopher Kung, a Chinese sage, b. in the State of Loo, now part of Shantung, about B.C. 551. He was distinguished by filial piety and learning. In his nineteenth year he married, and three years after began as a teacher, rejecting none who came to him. He travelled through many states. When past middle age he was appointed chief minister of Loo, but finding the Duke desired the renown of his name without adopting his counsel, he retired, and devoted his old age to editing the sacred classics of China. He died about B.C. 478. His teaching, chiefly found in the Lun-Yu, or Confucian Analects, was of a practical moral character, and did not include any religious dogmas.