In the 18th and 19th centuries, the notions of political arithmetic, of statistics, of the symmetry and power of numbers were in the air. In 1741, the science of statistics as it is known today came into existence with the work of Sussmilch, a Prussian clergyman who made a systematic attempt to correlate "political arithmetic," or what we now call "vital statistics." ("Statistics" referred to the "istics" of the state.) From this study came what was subsequently called the "laws of large numbers," which permitted extended use of what earlier has simply been crude data (like John Graunt's London bills of mortality about deaths during the London plague). These numbers about deaths and births could supply important data for coffin makers, tax collectors, military recruiters, government planners-those throughout Europe as well as in the American colonies. James H. Cassedy, in 1969, in Demography in Early America, said that Sussmilch's analysis of vital data from church registers became the ultimate scientific demonstration of the regularity of God's demographic laws. And God's demographic laws were quickly secularized: In the eighth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1852, Henry Thomas Buckle, the English chess prodigy and scientifically minded historian, wrote that "su-33
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This series aims to create a forum for debate between different theoretical and philosophical traditions in the social sciences. As well as covering broad schools of thought, the series will also concentrate upon the work of particular thinkers whose ideas have had a major impact on social science (these books appear under the subseries title of 'Theoretical Traditions in the Social Sciences'). The series is not limited to abstract theoretical discussion -it will also include more substantive works on contemporary capitalism, the state, politics, and other subject areas.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
Quant à ce qu'on appelle la morale individuelle, si l'on entend par là un ensemble de devoirs dont l'individu serait à la fois ie sujetet l'objet, qui ne le relieraient qu'à lui-même et qui,
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