Proudhon (Pierre Joseph), French anarchist and political thinker, b. Besançon, 15 Jan. 1809. Self-educated he became a printer, and won a prize of 1,500 francs for the person "best fitted for a literary or scientific career." In '40 appears his memoir, What is Property? in which he made the celebrated answer "C'est le vol." In '43 the Creation of Order in Humanity appeared, treating of religion, philosophy and logic. In '46 he published his System of Economical Contradictions, in which appeared his famous aphorism, "Dieu, c'est le mal." In '48 he introduced his scheme of the organisation of credit in a Bank of the People, which failed, though Proudhon saw that no one lost anything. He attacked Louis Bonaparte when President, and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 francs. On 2 Jan. '50 he married by private contract while in prison. For his work on Justice in the Revolution and in the Church he was condemned to three years' imprisonment and 4,000 francs fine in '58. He took refuge in Belgium and returned in '63. Died at Passy, 19 Jan. 1865. Among his posthumous works was The Gospels Annotated, '66. Proudhon was a bold and profound thinker of noble aspirations, but he lacked the sense of art and practicability. His complete works have been published in 26 vols. Protagoras, Greek philosopher, b. Abdera, about 480 B.C. Is said to have been a disciple of Democritus, and to have been a porter before he studied philosophy. He was the first to call himself a sophist. He wrote in a book on the gods, "Respecting the gods, I am unable to know whether they exist or do not exist." For this he was impeached and banished, and his book burnt. He went to Epirus and the Greek Islands, and died about 411. He believed all things were in flux, and summed up his conclusions in the proposition that "man is the measure of all things, both of that which exists and that which does not exist." Grote, who defends the Sophists, says his philosophy "had the merit of bringing into forcible relief the essentially relative nature of cognition." Prudhomme (Sully). See Sully Prudhomme. Pückler Muskau (Hermann Ludwig Heinrich), Prince, a German writer, b. Muskau, 30 Oct. 1785. He travelled widely and wrote his observations in a work entitled Letters of a Defunct, 1830; this was followed by Tutti Frutti, '32; Semilasso in Africa, '36, and other works. Died 4 Feb. 1871.