A General View of Positivism: Or, Summary exposition of the System of Thought and LifeComte, Auguste
Philosophy
A General View of Positivism: Or, Summary exposition of the System of Thought and Life
Comte, Auguste
Positivism
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]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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