Transcriber’s Note: Cover created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.
The New Universal Library
A GENERAL VIEW OF
POSITIVISM
A GENERAL VIEW
OF POSITIVISM
Translated from the French of
AUGUSTE COMTE
By J. H. BRIDGES, M.B.
Late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford
A New Edition, with an Introduction (1908), by
FREDERIC HARRISON
And the Additional Notes in the last French
Edition (Paris, 1907)
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LIMITED
New York: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
Published by the kind consent of Mrs. Bridges and the Positivist Committee, to whom the copyright of this translation belongs.
Republic of the West
Order and Progress
A GENERAL VIEW OF
POSITIVISM
Or,
SUMMARY EXPOSITION OF THE
SYSTEM OF THOUGHT
AND LIFE
Adapted to the Great Western Republic, formed of the Five Advanced Nations, the French, Italian, Spanish, British and German, which, since the time of Charlemagne, have always constituted a Political Whole
Réorganiser, sans dieu ni roi, par le culte systématique de l’Humanité.
Nul n’a droit qu’à faire son devoir.
L’esprit doit toujours être le ministre du coeur, et jamais son esclave.
Reorganisation, irrespectively of God or king, by the worship of Humanity, systematically adopted.
Man’s only right is to do his duty.
The Intellect should always be the servant of the Heart, and should never be its slave.
By
AUGUSTE COMTE
Author of ‘System of Positive Philosophy’
Paris, 1848
INTRODUCTION
By FREDERIC HARRISON
Although Positivism has been pretty widely discussed of late, not only by those interested in philosophy and religion, but by the general reader and the public press, perhaps but few of them, whether readers or critics, have exactly grasped the full meaning of it as a system at once of thought and of life. The vast range of the ground it covers and the technical, allusive, and close style of Comte’s writings in the original have made it difficult to master the subject as a whole. It has accordingly been thought that the time has come to add to the ‘New Universal Library’ a translation of The General View of Positivism, i.e., the careful summary of the Positive Polity which Auguste Comte prefixed to the four volumes of his principal work. The translation which was published by Dr. J. H. Bridges in 1865 is at the same time a most accurate version by one of Comte’s earliest followers, and also it is turned in an easy and simpler style, with the references and allusions explained, marginal headings to the paragraphs, and a complete analysis of the contents.
Positivism is not simply a system of Philosophy; nor is it simply a new form of Religion; nor is it simply a scheme of social regeneration. It partakes of all of these, and professes to harmonize them under one dominant conception that is equally philosophic and social. ‘Its primary object,’ writes Comte, ‘is twofold: to generalize our scientific conceptions and to systematize the art of social life.’ Accordingly Comte’s ideal embraces the three main elements of which human life consists—Thoughts, Feelings and Actions.
Now it is clear that no such comprehensive system was ever before offered to the world. Neither the Gospel nor any known type of religion undertook to give a synthetic grouping of the Sciences. No synthetic scheme of philosophy ever attempted to correlate religion, politics, art, and industry. No system of Socialism, ancient or modern, started with mathematics and led up to an ideal of a human devotion to duty, with a ritual of worship, both public and private.
Now Comte’s famous Positive Polity did attempt this gigantic task. And the novelty and extent of such a work explains and accounts for the extreme difficulty met with by readers of the original French, and also for the fascination which it has maintained more than fifty years after the author’s death. It has been talked about, criticized, and even ridiculed, with an ignorance of its true character which can only be excused by the abstract and severe form in which Comte thought right to condense his thoughts. Comte was primarily a mathematician, and neither Descartes nor Newton troubled themselves about ‘the general reader’. Kepler, they say, declared himself satisfied if he had one convert in a century; and philosophers have seldom had justice done them until some generations have passed. The difficulties presented by the scientific form of Comte’s works have been obviated for English readers by the versions of his English followers, which are at once literal translations, analyses, and elucidations. For the ‘general reader’ nothing could be more serviceable than Bridges’ clear presentation of Comte’s own ‘general view’, or summary of his system.
The translation itself is a literary masterpiece. It renders an extremely abstract and complex French type of philosophical dogmatism into easy and simple English, whilst at the same time preserving and even elucidating the somewhat cryptic allusions and nuances of the original. The thought in the French is full, pregnant, and suggestive, at once subtle and abstract, and rich with words of a new coinage—such as altruism, sociology, dynamics (i.e., history), and old words used in a special sense. This difficulty Dr. Bridges surmounts by breaking up the involved sentences, supplying names and facts indirectly referred to, and by transferring technical language into popular English. The success of the translation has been proved by the thousands of copies sold in the original 12mo edition of 1865, in the 8vo edition of 1875, and in the stereotyped reprint of 1881.
A pathetic interest attaches to the history of the translation. In 1860 Dr. Bridges, just settled as a physician in Melbourne, lost his young wife by fever. He at once returned to England, bringing the remains of his wife for interment in the family graveyard in Suffolk. In those days of sailing vessels the voyage home round Cape Horn occupied at least three months. Dr. Bridges resolved to conquer his sorrow, shut himself in his cabin during the voyage home and completed the translation (in 430 pages of print) within the time at sea:—
The sad mechanic exercise,
Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.
Auguste Comte always spoke of the Positive Polity as ‘his principal work’. The Discours sur l’Ensemble, or General View of Positivism, formed the introduction to the four volumes. It forms a summary of the entire work, and it is indeed a systematic application of the doctrine to the actual condition of society. As the Polity, taken as a whole, professes to embody a set of doctrines for the regulation of thought and life, the present Introduction is designed to show the need of such a body of doctrine, the result that they would produce, and the mode in which they are likely to work. Thus, one who desires to see in one view the social purpose which Positivism proposes to effect would find it in no single volume better than in this treatise.
The work consists of six chapters, treating Positivism respectively in its intellectual aspect, its social aspect, its influence on the working classes, on women, on art, and on religion. In other words it illustrates the application of the system to Philosophy, Politics, Industry, The Family, Poetry and The Future. It opens with a comparison of Positivist doctrines with those of the leading extant philosophies. It closes with a picture of society should those doctrines be realized. It is thus both a criticism of current theories, and an utopia of a possible Future. Of the intermediate chapters, the first deals with the principal changes proposed in our actual political system: the next chapter deals with the changes proposed in our present social system. Then come the last two chapters, dealing with the principal agents, Art, Poetry and Religion, by which those changes may be promoted. The book is therefore a practical introduction to the subject as a whole; for it sets forth the aim of Positivism as a system, and then how it seeks to effect that aim.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER OF POSITIVISM 8
The object of Philosophy is to present a systematic view of human life as a basis for modifying its imperfections—The Theological Synthesis failed to include the practical side of human nature—But the Positive spirit originated in practical life—In human nature, and therefore in the Positive system, Affection is the preponderating element—The proper function of Intellect is the service of the Social Sympathies—Under Theology the Intellect was the slave of the Heart; under Positivism, its servant—The subordination of the Intellect to the Heart is the subjective principle of Positivism—Objective basis of the system: Order of the external World, as revealed by Science—By it the selfish affections are controlled; the unselfish strengthened—Our conception of this External Order has been gradually growing from the earliest times, and is but just complete—Even where not modifiable, its influence on the character is of the greatest value—But in most cases we can modify it; and in these the knowledge of it forms the systematic basis of human action—The chief difficulty of the Positive Synthesis was to complete our conception of the External Order by extending it to Social Phenomena—By the discovery of sociological laws social questions are made paramount; and thus our subjective principle is satisfied without danger to free thought—Distinction between Abstract and Concrete laws. It is the former only that we require for the purpose before us—In our Theory of Development the required Synthesis of Abstract conceptions already exists—Therefore we are in a position to proceed at once with the work of social regeneration—Error of identifying Positivism with Atheism, Materialism, Fatalism, or Optimism. Atheism, like Theology, discusses insoluble mysteries—Materialism is due to the encroachment of the lower sciences on the domain of the higher, an error which Positivism rectifies—Nor is Positivism fatalist, since it asserts the External Order to be modifiable—The charge of Optimism applies to Theology rather than to Positivism. The Positivist judges of all historical actions relatively, but does not justify them indiscriminately—The word Positive connotes all the highest intellectual attributes, and will ultimately have a moral significance.
THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF POSITIVISM 64
The relation of Positivism to the French Revolution—The negative or destructive phase of the Revolution stimulated the desire of Progress, and consequently the study of social phenomena—The constructive phase of the Revolution. The first attempts to construct failed, being based on destructive principles—Counter-revolution from 1794 to 1830—Political stagnation between 1830 and 1848—The present position, 1848–1850. Republicanism involves the great principle of subordinating Politics to Morals—It gives prominence to the problem of reconciling Order and Progress—It brings the metaphysical revolutionary schools into discredit—And it proves to all the necessity of a true spiritual power; a body of thinkers whose business is to study and to teach principles, holding aloof from political action—The need of a spiritual power is common to the whole Republic of Western Europe—This Republic consists of the Italian, Spanish, British, and German populations, grouped round France as their centre—Relation of Positivism to the mediæval system, to which we owe the first attempt to separate Spiritual from Temporal power—But the mediæval attempt was premature; and Positivism will renew and complete it—The Ethical system of Positivism—Subjection of Self-love to Social love is the great ethical problem. The Social state of itself favours this result; but it may be hastened by organized and conscious effort—Intermediate between Self-love and universal Benevolence are the domestic affections: filial, fraternal, conjugal, paternal—Personal virtues placed upon a social basis—Moral education consists partly of scientific demonstration of ethical truth, but still more of culture of the higher sympathies—Organization of Public Opinion—Commemoration of great men—The political motto of Positivism: Order and Progress—Progress, the development of Order—Analysis of Progress: material, physical, intellectual, and moral—Application of our principles to actual politics. All government must for the present be provisional—Danger of attempting political reconstruction before spiritual—Politically what is wanted is Dictatorship, with liberty of speech and discussion—Such a dictatorship would be a step towards the separation of spiritual and temporal power—The motto of 1830, Liberty and Public Order—Liberty should be extended to Education—Order demands centralization—Intimate connexion of Liberty with Order.
THE ACTION OF POSITIVISM UPON THE WORKING CLASSES 140
Positivism will not for the present recommend itself to the governing classes, so much as to the People—The working man who accepts his position is favourably situated for the reception of comprehensive principles and generous sympathies—This the Convention felt; but they encouraged the People to seek political supremacy, for which they are not fit—It is only in exceptional cases that the People can be really ‘sovereign’—The truth involved in the expression is that the well-being of the people should be the one great object of government—The People’s function is to assist the spiritual power in modifying the action of government—Their combined efforts result in the formation of Public Opinion—Public opinion involves, (1) principles of social conduct, (2) their acceptance by society at large, (3) an organ through which to enunciate them—Working men’s clubs—All three conditions of Public Opinion exist, but have not yet been combined—Spontaneous tendencies of the people in a right direction. Their Communism—Its new title of Socialism—Property is in its nature social, and needs control—But Positivism rejects the Communist solution of the Problem. Property is to be controlled by moral not legal agencies—Individualization of functions as necessary as co-operation—Industry requires its captains as well as War—Communism is deficient in the historical spirit—In fact, as a system it is worthless, though prompted by noble feelings—Property is a public trust, not to be interfered with legally—Inheritance favourable to its right employment—Intellect needs moral control as much as wealth—Action of organized public opinion upon Capitalists. Strikes—Public Opinion must be based upon a sound system of Education—Education has two stages; from birth to puberty, from puberty to adolescence. The first, consisting of physical and esthetic training, to be given at home—The second part consists of public lectures on the Sciences, from Mathematics to Sociology—Travels of Apprentices—Concentration of study—Governmental assistance not required, except for certain special institutions, and this only as a provisional measure—We are not ripe for this system at present; and Government must not attempt to hasten its introduction—Intellectual attitude of the people. Emancipation from theological belief—From metaphysical doctrines—Their mistaken preference of literary and rhetorical talent to real intellectual power—Moral attitude of the people. The workman should regard himself as a public functionary—Ambition of power and wealth must be abandoned—The working classes are the best guarantee for Liberty and Order—It is from them that we shall obtain the dictatorial power which is provisionally required.
THE INFLUENCE OF POSITIVISM UPON WOMEN 227
Women represent the affective element in our nature, as philosophers and people represent the intellectual and practical elements—Women have stood aloof from the modern movement, because of its anti-historic and destructive character—But they will sympathize with constructive tendencies; and will distinguish sound philosophy from scientific specialities—Women’s position in society. Like philosophers and people, their part is not to govern, but to modify—The united action of philosophers, women, and proletaries constitutes Moral Force—Superiority of the new spiritual power to the old. Self-regarding tendencies of Catholic doctrine—The spirit of Positivism, on the contrary, is essentially social. The Heart and the Intellect mutually strengthen each other—Intellectual and moral affinities of women with Positivism—Catholicism purified love, but did not directly strengthen it—Women’s influence over the working classes and their teachers—Their social influence in the salon—But the Family is their principal sphere of action—Woman’s mission as a wife. Conjugal love an education for universal sympathy—Conditions of marriage. Indissoluble monogamy—Perpetual widowhood—Woman’s mission as a mother—Education of children belongs to mothers. They only can guide the development of character—Modern sophisms about Woman’s rights. The domesticity of her life follows from the principle of Separation of Powers—The position of the sexes tends to differentiation rather than identity—Woman to be maintained by Man—The education of women should be identical with that of men—Women’s privileges. Their mission is in itself a privilege—They will receive honour and worship from men—Development of mediæval chivalry—The practice of Prayer, so far from disappearing, is purified and strengthened in Positive religion—The worship of Woman a preparation for the worship of Humanity—Exceptional women. Joan of Arc—It is for women to introduce Positivism into the Southern nations.
THE RELATION OF POSITIVISM TO ART 304
Positivism when complete is as favourable to Imagination, as, when incomplete, it was unfavourable to it—Esthetic talent is for the adornment of life, not for its government—The political influence of literary men a deplorable sign and source of anarchy—Theory of Art—Art is the idealized representation of Fact—Poetry is intermediate between Philosophy and Polity—Art calls each element of our nature into harmonious action—Three stages in the esthetic process: Imitation, Idealization, Expression—Classification of the arts on the principle of decreasing generality, and increasing intensity—Poetry—Music—Painting. Sculpture. Architecture—The conditions favourable to Art have never yet been combined—Neither in Polytheism—Nor under the Mediæval system—Much less in modern times—Under Positivism the conditions will all be favourable. There will be fixed principles, and a nobler moral culture—Predisposing influence of Education—Relation of Art to Religion—Idealization of historical types—Art requires the highest education; but little special instruction—Artists as a class will disappear. Their function will be appropriated by the philosophic priesthood—Identity of esthetic and scientific genius—Women’s poetry—People’s poetry—Value of Art in the present crisis—Construction of normal types on the basis furnished by philosophy—Pictures of the Future of Man—Contrasts with the Past.
CONCLUSION. THE RELIGION OF HUMANITY 355
Recapitulation of the results obtained—Humanity is the centre to which every aspect of Positivism converges—With the discovery of sociological laws, a synthesis on the basis of Science becomes possible, science being now concentrated on the study of Humanity—Statical aspects of Humanity—Dynamical aspects—Inorganic and organic sciences elevated by their connexion with the supreme science of Humanity—The new religion is even more favourable to Art than to Science—Poetic portraiture of the new Supreme Being, and contrast with the old—Organization of festivals, representing statical and dynamical aspects of Humanity—Worship of the dead. Commemoration of their service—All the arts may co-operate in the service of religion—Positivism the successor of Christianity, and surpasses it—Superiority of Positive morality—Rise of the new Spiritual power—Temporal power will always be necessary, but its action will be modified by the spiritual—Substitution of duties for rights—Consensus of the Social Organism—Continuity of the past with the present—Necessity of a spiritual power to study and teach these truths, and thus to govern men by persuasion, instead of by compulsion—Nutritive functions of Humanity, performed by Capitalists, as the temporal power—These are modified by the cerebral functions, performed by the spiritual power—Women and priests to have their material subsistence guaranteed—Normal relation of priests, people, and capitalists—We are not yet ripe for the normal state. But the revolution of 1848 is a step towards it—First revolutionary motto; Liberty and Equality—Second motto; Liberty and Order—Third motto; Order and Progress—Provisional policy for the period of transition—Popular dictatorship with freedom of speech—Positive Committee for Western Europe—Occidental navy—International coinage—Occidental school—Flag for the Western Republic—Colonial and foreign Associates of the Committee, the action of which will ultimately extend to the whole human race—Conclusion. Perfection of the Positivist ideal—Corruption of Monotheism.
A GENERAL VIEW OF POSITIVISM
‘We tire of thinking and even of acting; we never tire of loving.’
In the following series of systematic essays upon Positivism the essential principles of the doctrine are first considered; I then point out the agencies by which its propagation will be effected; and I conclude by describing certain additional features indispensable to its completeness. My treatment of these questions will of course be summary; yet it will suffice, I hope, to overcome several excusable but unfounded prejudices. It will enable any competent reader to assure himself that the new general doctrine aims at something more than satisfying the Intellect; that it is in reality quite as favourable to Feeling and even to Imagination.