Condillac, Étienne Bonnot de

(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 (1746), he systematically discussed the empiricism of John Locke. In (1754), he questioned Locke's doctrine that intuitive knowledge is available directly through the senses. In his works (1780) and (1798), he emphasized the importance of language in logical reasoning and stressed the need for a scientifically designed language. His economic views, presented in (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.

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