born Sept. 30, 1715, Grenoble, France
died Aug. 2/3, 1780, Flux
French philosopher, psychologist, and economist.
He was ordained a priest in 1740. In his Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge (1746), he systematically discussed the empiricism of John Locke . In Treatise on Sensations (1754), he questioned Locke's doctrine that intuitive knowledge is available directly through the senses. In his works Logic (1780) and The Language of Calculation (1798), he emphasized the importance of language in logical reasoning and stressed the need for a scientifically designed language. His economic views, presented in Commerce and Government (1776), were based on the notion that value depends on utility rather than labour. The need for something useful, he argued, gives rise to value, while prices result from the exchange of valued items.