Along the XVIIIth century prompted by their quest for a fairer, freer and more egalitarian society, the men of the Enlightenment got involved in spreading scientific and cultivated knowledge among the masses. They thought these, once enlightened about their own capacities and interests, could autonomously partake in the economical, political and social life of their nations. Focusing on the relationships between the highest and lowest degrees of education, this paper explores the proposals Diderot, then director of the Encyclopedia, and Condorcet, then a member of the Legislative Assembly of the Revolutionary France, respectively elaborated for a universal, free public education. The renewal of the traditional contents to privilege the studies of "arts and sciences", which may be applied to practical life, and the implementation of didactics that, albeit simplifying its language, would preserve the rigor the theoretical knowledge both reveal the range and limits of this universal access formally guaranteed to common men. Scrutinizing the educational ideas that stake out the course of public education shows a gap between the liberal conceptualization of promotion through merit and the democratizing vocation, which aims at a social coexistence built upon the free intertwining of people's talents, knowledge and tastes.
Sciences; Arts; Democracy; Philosophy; Public education