 Although neither author rigorously defines human well-being, both believe that, over the long term, scientific discoveries and political freedom reinforce each other and together further it. Turgot considers the role that political institutions play in advancing science.  He thinks that individual genius moves science forward.  Political institutions are important to scientific progress insofar as they allow geniuses to flourish.  Variation in scientific achievement is to be explained not by the concentration of genius but by the institutions that either suppress or encourage it (1751, 88). Despotic government is bad for genius, while republics nurture it. Condorcet also remarks that free institutions are the native environment of scientific discovery (1795, 129).  In turn, the growth of scientific knowledge will advance political freedom (Turgot 1750, 43). 