General View of Positivism — Chapter 1 The Intellectual Character Of Positivism Part 1

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.

CHAPTER II

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.

CHAPTER III

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.

CHAPTER IV

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.

CHAPTER V

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.

CHAPTER VI 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.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Positivism consists essentially of a Philosophy and a Polity.

These can never be dissevered; the former being the basis, and the latter the end of one comprehensive system, in which our intellectual faculties and our social sympathies are brought into close correlation with each other.

For, in the first place, the science of Society, besides being more important than any other, supplies the only logical and scientific link by which all our varied observations of phenomena can be brought into one consistent whole[1].

Of this science it is even more true than of any of the preceding sciences, that its real character cannot be understood without explaining its exact relation in all general features with the art corresponding to it.

Now here we find a coincidence which is assuredly not fortuitous.

At the very time when the theory of society is being laid down, an immense sphere is opened for the application of that theory; the direction, namely, of the social regeneration of Western Europe.

For, if we take another point of view, and look at the great crisis of modern history, as its character is displayed in the natural course of events, it becomes every day more evident how hopeless is the task of reconstructing political institutions without the previous remodelling of opinion and of life.

To form then a satisfactory synthesis of all human conceptions is the most urgent of our social wants: and it is needed equally for the sake of Order and of Progress.

During the gradual accomplishment of this great philosophical work, a new moral power will arise spontaneously throughout the West, which, as its influence increases, will lay down a definite basis for the reorganization of society.

It will offer a general system of education for the adoption of all civilized nations, and by this means will supply in every department of public and private life fixed principles of judgment and of conduct.

Thus the intellectual movement and the social crisis will be brought continually into close connexion with each other.

Both will combine to prepare the advanced portion of humanity for the acceptance of a true spiritual power, a power more coherent, as well as more progressive, than the noble but premature attempt of mediaeval Catholicism.

The primary object, then, of Positivism is two-fold: to generalize our scientific conceptions, and to systematize the art of social life.

These are but two aspects of one and the same problem.

They will form the subjects of the two first chapters of this work.

I shall first explain the general spirit of the new philosophy.

I shall then show its necessary connexion with the whole course of that vast revolution which is now about to terminate under its guidance in social reconstruction.

This will lead us naturally to another question.

The regenerating doctrine cannot do its work without adherents; in what quarter should we hope to find them?

Now, with individual exceptions of great value, we cannot expect the adhesion of any of the upper classes in society.

They are all more or less under the influence of baseless metaphysical theories, and of aristocratic self-seeking.

They are absorbed in blind political agitation and in disputes for the possession of the useless remnants of the old theological and military system.

Their action only tends to prolong the revolutionary state indefinitely, and can never result in true social renovation.

Whether we regard its intellectual character or its social objects, it is certain that Positivism must look elsewhere for support.

It will find a welcome in those classes only whose good sense has been left unimpaired by our vicious system of education, and whose generous sympathies are allowed to develop themselves freely.

It is among women, therefore, and among the working classes that the heartiest supporters of the new doctrine will be found.

It is intended, indeed, ultimately for all classes of society.

But it will never gain much real influence over the higher ranks till it is forced upon their notice by these powerful patrons.

When the work of spiritual reorganization is completed, it is on them that its maintenance will principally depend;

and so too, their combined aid is necessary for its commencement.

Having but little influence in political government, they are the more likely to appreciate the need of a moral government, the special object of which it will be to protect them against the oppressive action of the temporal power.

In the third chapter, therefore, I shall explain the mode in which philosophers and working men will co-operate.

Both have been prepared for this coalition by the general course which modern history has taken, and it offers now the only hope we have of really decisive action.

We shall find that the efforts of Positivism to regulate and develop the natural tendencies of the people, make it, even from the intellectual point of view, more coherent and complete.

But there is another and a more unexpected source from which Positivism will obtain support; and not till then will its true character and the full extent of its constructive power be appreciated.

I shall show in the fourth chapter how eminently calculated is the Positive doctrine to raise and regulate the social condition of women.

It is from the feminine aspect only that human life, whether individually or collectively considered, can really be comprehended as a whole.

For the only basis on which a system really embracing all the requirements of life can be formed, is the subordination of intellect to social feeling: a subordination which we find directly represented in the womanly type of character, whether regarded in its personal or social relations.

Although these questions cannot be treated fully in the present work, I hope to convince my readers that Positivism is more in accordance with the spontaneous tendencies of the people and of women than Catholicism, and is therefore better qualified to institute a spiritual power.

It should be observed that the ground on which the support of both these classes is obtained is, that Positivism is the only system which can supersede the various subversive schemes that are growing every day more dangerous to all the relations of domestic and social life.

Yet the tendency of the doctrine is to elevate the character of both of these classes; and it gives a most energetic sanction to all their legitimate aspirations.

Thus it is that a philosophy originating in speculations of the most abstract character, is found applicable not merely to every department of practical life, but also to the sphere of our moral nature.

But to complete the proof of its universality I have still to speak of another very essential feature.

I shall show, in spite of prejudices which exist very naturally on this point, that Positivism is eminently calculated to call the Imaginative faculties into exercise.

It is by these faculties that the unity of human nature is most distinctly represented: they are themselves intellectual, but their field lies principally in our moral nature, and the result of their operation is to influence the active powers.

The subject of women treated in the fourth chapter, will lead me by a natural transition to speak in the fifth of the Esthetic aspects of Positivism.

I shall attempt to show that the new doctrine by the very fact of embracing the whole range of human relations in the spirit of reality, discloses the true theory of Art, which has hitherto been so great a deficiency in our speculative conceptions.

The principle of the theory is that, in co-ordinating the primary functions of humanity, Positivism places the Idealities of the poet midway between the Ideas of the philosopher and the Realities of the statesman.

We see from this theory how it is that the poetical power of Positivism cannot be manifested at present.

We must wait until moral and mental regeneration has advanced far enough to awaken the sympathies which naturally belong to it, and on which Art in its renewed state must depend for the future.

The first mental and social shock once passed, Poetry will at last take her proper rank.

She will lead Humanity onward towards a future which is now no longer vague and visionary, while at the same time she enables us to pay due honour to all phases of the past.

The great object which Positivism sets before us individually and socially, is the endeavour to become more perfect.

The highest importance is attached therefore to the imaginative faculties, because in every sphere with which they deal they stimulate the sense of perfection.

Limited as my explanations in this work must be, I shall be able to show that Positivism, while opening out a new and wide field for art, supplies in the same spontaneous way new means of expression.

I shall thus have sketched with some detail the true character of the regenerating doctrine.

All its principal aspects will have been considered.

Beginning with its philosophical basis, I pass by natural transitions to its political purpose; thence to its action upon the people, its influence with women, and lastly, to its esthetic power.

In concluding this work, which is but the introduction to a larger treatise, I have only to speak of the conception which unites all these various aspects.

As summed up in the positivist motto, _Love, Order, Progress_, they lead us to the conception of Humanity, which implicitly involves and gives new force to each of them.

Rightly interpreting this conception, we view Positivism at last as a complete and consistent whole.

The subject will naturally lead us to speak in general terms of the future progress of social regeneration, as far as the history of the past enables us to foresee it.

The movement originates in France, and is limited at first to the great family of Western nations.

I shall show that it will afterwards extend, in accordance with definite laws, to the rest of the white race, and finally to the other two great races of man.

CHAPTER I THE INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER OF POSITIVISM

[The object of Philosophy is to present a systematic view of human life, as a basis for modifying its imperfections] The object of all true Philosophy is to frame a system which shall comprehend human life under every aspect, social as well as individual.

It embraces, therefore, the three kinds of phenomena of which our life consists, Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions.

Under all these aspects, the growth of Humanity is primarily spontaneous; and the basis upon which all wise attempts to modify it should proceed, can only be furnished by an exact acquaintance with the natural process.

We are, however, able to modify this process systematically; and the importance of this is extreme, since we can thereby greatly diminish the partial deviations, the disastrous delays, and the grave inconsistencies to which so complex a growth would be liable were it left entirely to itself.

To effect this necessary intervention is the proper sphere of politics.

But a right conception cannot be formed of it without the aid of the philosopher, whose business it is to define and amend the principles on which it is conducted.

With this object in view the philosopher endeavours to co-ordinate the various elements of man’s existence, so that it may be conceived of theoretically as an integral whole.

His synthesis can only be valid in so far as it is an exact and complete representation of the relations naturally existing.

The first condition is therefore that these relations be carefully studied.

When the philosopher, instead of forming such a synthesis, attempts to interfere more directly with the course of practical life, he commits the error of usurping the province of the statesman, to whom all practical measures exclusively belong.

Philosophy and Politics are the two principal functions of the great social organism.

Morality, systematically considered, forms the connecting link and at the same time the line of demarcation between them.

It is the most important application of philosophy, and it gives a general direction to polity.

Natural morality, that is to say the various emotions of our moral nature, will, as I have shown in my previous work, always govern the speculations of the one and the operations of the other.

This I shall explain more fully.

But the synthesis, which it is the social function of Philosophy to construct, will neither be real nor permanent, unless it embraces every department of human nature, whether speculative, effective, or practical.

These three orders of phenomena react upon each other so intimately, that any system which does not include all of them must inevitably be unreal and inadequate.

Yet it is only in the present day, when Philosophy is reaching the positive stage, that this which is her highest and most essential mission can be fully apprehended.

[The Theological synthesis failed to include the practical side of human nature] The theological synthesis depended exclusively upon our affective nature; and this is owing its original supremacy and its ultimate decline.

For a long time its influence over all our highest speculations was paramount.

This was especially the case during the Polytheistic period, when Imagination and Feeling still retained their sway under very slight restraint from the reasoning faculties.

Yet even during the time of its highest development, intellectually and socially, theology exercised no real control over practical life.

It reacted, of course, upon it to some extent, but the effects of this were in most cases far more apparent than real.

There was a natural antagonism between them, which though at first hardly perceived, went on increasing till at last it brought about the entire destruction of the theological fabric.

A system so purely subjective could not harmonize with the necessarily objective tendencies and stubborn realities of practical life.

Theology asserted all phenomena to be under the dominion of Wills more or less arbitrary: whereas in practical life men were led more and more clearly to the conception of invariable Laws.

For without laws human action would have admitted of no rule or plan.

In consequence of this utter inability of theology to deal with practical life, its treatment of speculative and even of moral problems was exceedingly imperfect, such problems being all more or less dependent on the practical necessities of life.

To present a perfectly synthetic view of human nature was, then, impossible as long as the influence of theology lasted; because the Intellect was impelled by Feeling and by the Active powers in two totally different directions.

The failure of all metaphysical attempts to form a synthesis need not be dwelt upon here.

Metaphysicians, in spite of their claims to absolute truth have never been able to supersede theology in questions of feeling, and have proved still more inadequate in practical questions.

Ontology, even when it was most triumphant in the schools, was always limited to subjects of a purely intellectual nature; and even here its abstractions, useless in themselves, dealt only with the case of individual development, the metaphysical spirit being thoroughly incompatible with the social point of view.

In my work on Positive Philosophy I have clearly proved that it constitutes only a transitory phase of mind, and is totally inadequate for any constructive purpose.

For a time it was supreme; but its utility lay simply in its revolutionary tendencies.

It aided the preliminary development of Humanity by its gradual inroads upon Theology, which, though in ancient times entrusted with the sole direction of society, had long since become in every respect utterly retrograde.

[But the Positive spirit originated in practical life] But all Positive speculations owe their first origin to the occupations of practical life; and, consequently, they have always given some indication of their capacity for regulating our active powers, which had been omitted from every former synthesis.

Their value in this respect has been and still is materially impaired by their want of breadth, and their isolated and incoherent character; but it has always been instinctively felt.

The importance that we attach to theories which teach the laws of phenomena, and give us the power of prevision, is chiefly due to the fact that they alone can regulate our otherwise blind action upon the external world.

Hence it is that while the Positive spirit has been growing more and more theoretical, and has gradually extended to every department of speculation, it has never lost the practical tendencies which it derived from its source;

and this even in the case of researches useless in themselves, and only to be justified as logical exercises.

From its first origin in mathematics and astronomy, it has always shown its tendency to systematize the whole of our conceptions in every new subject which has been brought within the scope of its fundamental principle.

It exercised for a long time a modifying influence upon theological and metaphysical principles, which has gone on increasing; and since the time of Descartes and Bacon it has become evident that it is destined to supersede them altogether.

Positivism has gradually taken possession of the preliminary sciences of Physics and Biology, and in these the old system no longer prevails.

All that remained was to complete the range of its influence by including the study of social phenomena.

For this study metaphysics had proved incompetent; by theological thinkers it had only been pursued indirectly and empirically as a condition of government.

I believe that my work on Positive Philosophy has so far supplied what was wanting.

I think it must now be clear to all that the Positive spirit can embrace the entire range of thought without lessening, or rather with the effect of strengthening its original tendency to regulate practical life.

And it is a further guarantee for the stability of the new intellectual synthesis that Social science, which is the final result of our researches, gives them that systematic character in which they had hitherto been wanting, by supplying the only connecting link of which they all admit.

This conception is already adopted by all true thinkers.

All must now acknowledge that the Positive spirit tends necessarily towards the formation of a comprehensive and durable system, in which every practical as well as speculative subject shall be included.

But such a system would still be far from realizing that universal character without which Positivism would be incompetent to supersede Theology in the spiritual government of Humanity.

For the element which really preponderates in every human being, that is to say, Affection, would still be left untouched.

This element it is, and this only, which gives a stimulus and direction to the other two parts of our nature: without it the one would waste its force in ill-conceived, or, at least, useless studies, and the other in barren or even dangerous contention.

With this immense deficiency the combination of our theoretical and active powers would be fruitless, because it would lack the only principle which could ensure its real and permanent stability.

The failure would be even greater than the failure of Theology in dealing with practical questions; for the unity of human nature cannot really be made to depend either on the rational or the active faculties.

In the life of the individual, and, still more, in the life of the race, the basis of unity, as I shall show in the fourth chapter, must always be feeling.

It is to the fact that theology arose spontaneously from feeling that its influence is for the most part due.

And although theology is now palpably on the decline, yet it will retain, in principle at least, some legitimate claims to the direction of society so long as the new philosophy fails to occupy this important vantage-ground.

We come then to the final conditions with which the modern synthesis must comply.

Without neglecting the spheres of Thought and Action it must also comprehend the moral sphere; and the very principle on which its claim to universality rests must be derived from Feeling.

Then, and not till then, can the claims of theology be finally set aside.

For then the new system will have surpassed the old in that which is the one essential purpose of all general doctrines.

It will have shown itself able to effect what no other doctrine has done, that is, to bring the three primary elements of our nature into harmony.

If Positivism were to prove incapable of satisfying this condition, we must give up all hope of systematization of any kind.

For while Positive principles are now sufficiently developed to neutralize those of Theology, yet, on the other hand, the influence of theology would continue to be far greater.

Hence it is that many conscientious thinkers in the present day are so inclined to despair for the future of society.

They see that the old principles on which society has been governed must finally become powerless.

What they do not see is that a new basis for morality is being gradually laid down.

Their theories are too imperfect and incoherent to show them the direction towards which the present time is ultimately tending.

It must be owned, too, that their view seems borne out by the present character of the Positive method.

While all allow its utility in the treatment of practical, and even of speculative, problems, it seems to most men, and very naturally, quite unfit to deal with questions of morality.

[In human nature, and therefore in the Positive system, Affection is the preponderating element] But on closer examination they will see reason to rectify their judgment.

They will see that the hardness with which Positive science has been justly reproached, is due to the speciality and want of purpose with which it has hitherto been pursued, and is not at all inherent in its nature.

Originating as it did in the necessities of our material nature, which for a long time restricted it to the study of the inorganic world, it has not till now become sufficiently complete or systematic to harmonize well with our moral nature.

But now that it is brought to bear upon social questions, which for the future will form its most important field, it loses all the defects peculiar to its long period of infancy.

The very attribute of reality which is claimed by the new philosophy, leads it to treat all subjects from the moral still more than from the intellectual side.

The necessity of assigning with exact truth the place occupied by the intellect and by the heart in the organization of human nature and of society, leads to the decision that Affection must be the central point of the synthesis.

In the treatment of social questions Positive science will be found utterly to discard those proud illusions of the supremacy of reason, to which it had been liable during its preliminary stages.

Ratifying, in this respect, the common experience of men even more forcibly than Catholicism, it teaches us that individual happiness and public welfare are far more dependent upon the heart than upon the intellect.

But, independently of this, the question of co-ordinating the faculties of our nature will convince us that the only basis on which they can be brought into harmonious union, is the preponderance of Affection over Reason, and even over Activity.

The fact that intellect, as well as social sympathy, is a distinctive attribute of our nature, might lead us to suppose that either of these two might be supreme, and therefore that there might be more than one method of establishing unity.

The fact, however, is that there is only one; because these two elements are by no means equal in their fitness for assuming the first place.

Whether we look at the distinctive qualities of each, or at the degree of force which they possess, it is easy to see that the only position for which the intellect is permanently adapted is to be the servant of the social sympathies.

If, instead of being content with this honourable post, it aspires to become supreme, its ambitious aims, which are never realized, result simply in the most deplorable disorder.

Even with the individual, it is impossible to establish permanent harmony between our various impulses, except by giving complete supremacy to the feeling which prompts the sincere and habitual desire of doing good.

This feeling is, no doubt, like the rest, in itself blind; it has to learn from reason the right means of obtaining satisfaction; and our active faculties are then called into requisition to apply those means.

But common experience proves that after all the principal condition of right action is the benevolent impulse; with the ordinary amount of intellect and activity that is found in men this stimulus, if well sustained, is enough to direct our thoughts and energies to a good result.

Without this habitual spring of action they would inevitably waste themselves in barren or incoherent efforts, and speedily relapse into their original torpor.

Unity in our moral nature is, then, impossible, except so far as affection preponderates over intellect and activity.

[The proper function of Intellect is the Service of the Social Sympathies] True as this fundamental principle is for the individual, it is in public life that its necessity can be demonstrated most irrefutably.

The problem is in reality the same, nor is any different solution of it required; only it assumes such increased dimensions, that less uncertainty is felt as to the method to be adopted.

The various beings whom it is sought to harmonize have in this case each a separate existence; it is clear, therefore, that the first condition of co-operation must be sought in their own inherent tendency to universal love.

No calculations of self-interest can rival this social instinct, whether in promptitude and breadth of intuition, or in boldness and tenacity of purpose.

True it is that the benevolent emotions have in most cases less intrinsic energy than the selfish.

But they have this beautiful quality, that social life not only permits their growth, but stimulates it to an almost unlimited extent, while it holds their antagonists in constant check.

Indeed the increasing tendency in the former to prevail over the latter is the best measure by which to judge of the progress of Humanity.

But the intellect may do much to confirm their influence.

It may strengthen social feeling by diffusing juster views of the relations in which the various parts of society stand to each other; or it may guide its application by dwelling on the lessons which the past offers to the future.

It is to this honourable service that the new philosophy would direct our intellectual powers.

Here the highest sanction is given to their operations, and an exhaustless field is opened out for them, from which far deeper satisfaction may be gained than from the approbation of the learned societies, or from the puerile specialities with which they are at present occupied.

In fact, the ambitious claims which, ever since the hopeless decline of the theological synthesis, have been advanced by the intellect, never were or could be realized.

Their only value lay in their solvent action on the theological system when it had become hostile to progress.

The intellect is intended for service, not for empire; when it imagines itself supreme, it is really only obeying the personal instead of the social instincts.

It never acts independently of feeling, be that feeling good or bad.

The first condition of command is force; now reason has but light; the impulse that moves it must come from elsewhere.

The metaphysical Utopias, in which a life of pure contemplation is held out as the highest ideal, attract the notice of our men of science; but are really nothing but illusions of pride, or veils for dishonest schemes.

True there is a genuine satisfaction in the act of discovering truth; but it is not sufficiently intense to be an habitual guide of conduct.

Indeed, so feeble is our intellect, that the impulse of some passion is necessary to direct and sustain it in almost every effort.

When the impulse comes from kindly feeling it attracts attention on account of its rarity or value; when it springs from the selfish motives of glory, ambition, or gain, it is too common to be remarked.

This is usually the only difference between the two cases.

It does indeed occasionally happen that the intellect is actuated by a sort of passion for truth in itself, without any mixture of pride or vanity.

Yet, in this case, as in every other, there is intense egotism in exercising the mental powers irrespectively of all social objects.

Positivism, as I shall afterwards explain, is even more severe than Catholicism in its condemnation of this type of character, whether in metaphysicians or in men of science.

The true philosopher would consider it a most culpable abuse of the opportunities which civilization affords him for the sake of the welfare of society, in leading a speculative life.

We have traced the Positive principle from its origin in the pursuits of active life, and have seen it extending successively to every department of speculation.

We now find it, in its maturity, and that as a simple result of its strict adherence to fact, embracing the sphere of affection, and making that sphere the central point of its synthesis.

It is henceforth a fundamental doctrine of Positivism, a doctrine of as great political as philosophical importance, that the Heart preponderates over the Intellect.

[Under Theology the intellect was the slave of the heart; under Positivism, its servant] It is true that this doctrine, which is the only basis for establishing harmony in our nature, had been, as I before remarked, instinctively accepted by theological systems.

But it was one of the fatalities of society in its preliminary phase, that the doctrine was coupled with an error which, after a time, destroyed all its value.

In acknowledging the superiority of the heart the intellect was reduced to abject submission.

Its only chance of growth lay in resistance to the established system.

This course it followed with increasing effect, till after twenty centuries of insurrection, the system collapsed.

The natural result of the process was to stimulate metaphysical and scientific pride, and to promote views subversive of all social order.

But Positivism, while systematically adopting the principle here spoken of as the foundation of individual and social discipline, interprets that principle in a different way.

It teaches that while it is for the heart to suggest our problems, it is for the intellect to solve them.

Now the intellect was at first quite inadequate to this task, for which a long and laborious training was needed.

The heart, therefore, had to take its place, and in default of objective truth, to give free play to its subjective inspirations.

But for these inspirations, all progress, as I showed in my _System of Positive Philosophy_, would have been totally impossible.

For a long time it was necessary that they should be believed absolutely; but as soon as our reason began to mould its conceptions upon observations, more or less accurate, of the external world, these supernatural dogmas became inevitably an obstacle to its growth.

Here lies the chief source of the important modifications which theological belief has successively undergone.

No further modifications are now possible without violating its essential principles; and since, meantime, Positive science is assuming every day larger proportions, the conflict between them is advancing with increasing vehemence and danger.

The tendency on the one side is becoming more retrograde, on the other more revolutionary; because the impossibility of reconciling the two opposing forces is felt more and more strongly.

Never was this position of affairs more manifest than now.

The restoration of theology to its original power, supposing such a thing were possible, would have the most degrading influence on the intellect, and, consequently, on the character also; since it would involve the admission that our views of scientific truth were to be strained into accordance with our wishes and our wants.

Therefore no important step in the progress of Humanity can now be made without totally abandoning the theological principle.

The only service of any real value which it still renders, is that of forcing the attention of Western Europe, by the very fact of its reactionary tendencies, upon the greatest of all social questions.

It is owing to its influence that the central point of the new synthesis is placed in our moral rather than our intellectual nature; and this, in spite of every prejudice and habit of thought that has been formed during the revolutionary period of the last five centuries.

And while in this, which is the primary condition of social organization, Positivism, proves more efficient than Theology, it at the same time terminates the disunion which has existed so long between the intellect and the heart.

For it follows logically from its principles, and also from the whole spirit of the system, that the intellect shall be free to exercise its full share of influence in every department of human life.

When it is said that the intellect should be subordinate to the heart, what is meant is, that the intellect should devote itself exclusively to the problems which the heart suggests, the ultimate object being to find proper satisfaction for our various wants.

Without this limitation, experience has shown too clearly that it would almost always follow its natural bent for useless or insoluble questions, which are the most plentiful and the easiest to deal with.

But when any problem of a legitimate kind has been once proposed, it is the sole judge of the method to be pursued, and of the utility of the results obtained.

Its province is to inquire into the present, in order to foresee the future, and to discover the means of improving it.

In this province it is not to be interfered with.

In a word the intellect is to be the servant of the heart, not its slave.

Under these two correlative conditions the elements of our nature will at last be brought into harmony.

The equilibrium of these two elements, once established, is in little danger of being disturbed.

For since it is equally favourable to both of them, both will be interested in maintaining it.

The fact that Reason in modern times has become habituated to revolt, is no ground for supposing that it will always retain its revolutionary character, even when its legitimate claims have been fully satisfied.

Supposing the case to arise, however, society, as I shall show afterwards, would not be without the means of repressing any pretensions that were subversive of order.

There is another point of view which may assure us that the position given to the heart under the new system will involve no danger to the growth of intellect.

Love, when real, ever desires light, in order to attain its ends.

The influence of true feeling is as favourable to sound thought as to wise activity.

[The subordination of the intellect to the heart is the _Subjective Principle_ of Positivism] Our doctrine, therefore, is one which renders hypocrisy and oppression alike impossible.

And it now stands forward as the result of all the efforts of the past, for the regeneration of order, which, whether considered individually or socially, is so deeply compromised by the anarchy of the present time.

It establishes a fundamental principle by which true philosophy and sound polity are brought into correlation; a principle which can be felt as well as proved, and which is at once the keystone of a system and a basis of government.

I shall show, moreover, in the fifth chapter, that the doctrine is as rich in esthetic beauty as in philosophical power and in social influence.

This will complete the proof of its efficacy as the centre of a universal system.

Viewed from the moral, scientific, or poetical aspect, it is equally valuable;

and it is the only principle which can bring Humanity safely through the most formidable crisis that she has ever yet undergone.

It will be now clear to all that the force of demonstration, a force peculiar to modern times, and which still retains much of its destructive character, becomes matured and elevated by Positivism.

It begins to develop constructive tendencies, which will soon be developed more largely.

It is not too much, then, to say that Positivism, notwithstanding its speculative origin, offers as much to natures of deep sympathy as to men of highly cultivated intellects, or of energetic character.

[_Objective basis_ of the system; External Order of the World, as revealed by Science] The spirit and the principle of the synthesis which all true philosophers should endeavour to establish, have now been defined.

I

proceed to explain the method that should be followed in the task, and the peculiar difficulty with which it is attended.

The object of the synthesis will not be secured until it embraces the whole extent of its domain, the moral and practical departments as well as the intellectual.

But these three departments cannot be dealt with simultaneously.

They follow an order of succession which, so far from dissevering them from the whole to which they belong, is seen when carefully examined to be a natural result of their mutual dependence.

The truth is, and it is a truth of great importance, that Thoughts must be systematized before Feelings, Feelings before Actions.

It is doubtless, owing to a confused apprehension of this truth, that philosophers hitherto, in framing their systems of human nature, have dealt almost exclusively, with our intellectual faculties.

The necessity of commencing with the co-ordination of ideas is not merely due to the fact that the relations of these, being more simple and more susceptible of demonstration, form a useful logical preparation for the remainder of the task.

On closer examination we find a more important, though less obvious reason.

If this first portion of the work be once efficiently performed, it is the foundation of all the rest.

In what remains no very serious difficulty will occur, provided always that we content ourselves with that degree of completeness which the ultimate purpose of the system requires.