the Enlightenment and primacy of education: views António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches Marquis de Condorcet

The analysis of modernity must uniformly encompass the study of the Enlightenment, a period in which analytical and paradigmatic thinking prevailed. This was the era in which António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches and the Marquis de Condorcet lived. Both endorsed and contributed to the scientific instrument that became known as the Republic of Letters. The transposition of thoughts and arguments that overflowed in letters addressed to various collaborators, in the case of Sanches, in addition to the various precepts inspired by Condorcet's letters, brought to light untold contributions to the concept and application of public education. Recent historiography on the Enlightenment has affirmed the plural nature and multiple processes of composition of ideas associated with the Enlightenment in different parts of Europe simultaneously, in ways and according to regional peculiarities. In this context, two figures have been highlighted: the Portuguese Antônio Nunes Ribeiro Sanches and the French Marquis de Condorcet. The study sought to identify similarities and differences with regard to the issue of education as an Enlightenment priority.