London George Bell & Sons 1896

Introduction

“If it cannot be said of Comte that he has created a science, it may be said truly that he has, for the first time, made the creation possible. This is a great achievement, and, with the extraordinary merit of his historical analysis, and of his philosophy of the physical science,. is enough to immortalize his name.”—John Stuart Mill.

“Comte is now generally admitted to have been the most eminent and important of that interesting group of thinkers whom the overthrow of old institutions in France turned towards social specula- tion.”—John Morley.

The foregoing quotations from the two English authorities who have most severely criticized the “Positive Polity” of Auguste Comte, bear witness to the profound impulse given to modern thought by the publication of the “Positive Philosophy,” more than half a century ago. Miss Martineau’s condensation appeared eleven years later, during the lifetime of Comte and before the completion of his later works. It was warmly welcomed by the philosopher himself, and adopted by him as the popular form of his own voluminous treatise. Since that time an immense amount of discussion has arisen about the philosophy itself, about the subsequent development of Comte’s own career and speculations, and on the incidents of his strenuous life. In placing before the public Miss Martineau’s version of the “Philosophic Positive” in a new form, it seems a fitting occasion to introduce it by some notice of Comte’s own life and labours, as well by some account of that which he called his “fundamental work,” and of the very remarkable version by which Harriet Martineau gave it a new literary form.

Auguste Comte was born at Montpellier, in the south of France,

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19th Jan., 1798, the eldest son of Louis Comte, treasurer of taxes for the department of Hérault, and of Rosalie Boyer, whose family produced some eminent physicians. Both father and mother were sincere Catholics and ardent royalists. Their son was christened Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier. The house in which he was born is still to be seen opposite the church of Sainte Eulalie. At the age of nine, a small and delicate child, he was placed as a boarder in the Lycee of his native city. He soon showed extraordinary intelligence and industry, a character of singular courage and resolution, and a spirit of defiance towards religious and civil authority. He refused to conform to any worship, and avowed an open hatred of Napoleon and his schemes of conquest. Anecdotes are still told of his prodigious memory; he could repeat a hundred verses after a single recital, and could recite backwards the words of a page that he had once read. He carried off all prizes, and at the age of fourteen and a half he had passed through the entire course of the Lycée. He then studied mathematics under Daniel Encontre, a teacher of great ability, whose place he was able to take in his fifteenth year. At the age of sixteen he passed in the École Polytechnic. the first on the list of candidates for the south and centre of France.

In October, 1814, the young Comte, then in his seventeenth year, entered the great college at Paris, and there applied himself with his usual energy to mathematics and physics under the illustrious Poinsot. He was called “the philosopher,” and took the lead amongst his fellow pupils by his energy as well as his abilities. He was known as an ardent republican, a fierce opponent of tyranny, whether theological, political, or academic. In 1816, one of the tutors having given offence to the younger pupils, Comte took the lead in demanding his resignation, and drew up a curt memorial to this effect. The college was sent down, and Comte, who was only in his second year of residence as the author of the insurrection, was sent home to his despairing parents and placed under the surveillance of the police, with his hopes of a future career entirely destroyed.

For some time he studied biology in the medical school of Montpellier, but in September, 1816, being then eighteen, he returned to Paris with the brave intention of supporting himself by lessons. He now dropped the mediaeval name of Isidore by which he had been known from infancy, and took his Roman baptismal name of Auguste. In the following year he was introduced to Saint-Simon, with whom he remained in relations for four or five years. The vague, optimistic, and humanitarian

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dreams of this singular reformer did undoubtedly exercise a certain fascination over the youthful mind of Comte, and gave his genius and character an inflexible bent towards a scheme of social reorganization. But the shallowness of Saint-Simon’s acquirements could not impart anything of a solid kind to such a mind as Comte’s; and the vanity and charlatanry of the famous socialist alienated his young follower. They soon came into direct opposition on Saint-Simon’s contention that intellectual and moral re-organization could only proceed from the authority of government. Saint-Simon claimed as his own the work of his young colleague, and when he fell back on a mystical theologism, the rupture became final.

Auguste Comte wrote a few pieces for various periodicals in Paris, to which he attached but little importance. His first great philosophical work was a pamphlet in 191 pages, published in May, 1822, with an introduction by Saint-Simon. It was entitled a “Prospectus of the scientific worlds for the reorganization of Society, by Auguste Comte. former pupil of the École Polytechnique.” He republished his pamphlet with some small modifications and additions in 1824, under the title “System of Positive Polity,” and this is reprinted in vol. iv of the “Politique Positive,” 1854. A full accost and the text of both editions is given in the “Revue Occidentale” (1895, vol. xi, p. 1). This essay of 1822 contains a statement of the classification of the sciences, of the law of the three states, and the suggestion of a science of sociology. It is in truth the prospectus of that which for thirty years Comte continued to elaborate. It has not the smallest connection with Saint-Simon, nor with contemporary socialism or mysticism, and has always been treated by Comte and by his adherents as the the first sketch of the “Positive Philosophy.”

Between 1816 and 1826 (aetat. 18 to 28) Comte laboured and read with extraordinary energy, frequently absorbed for twenty-four hours at a stretch, and writing all through the night. By his essay of 1822 and one or two other pieces in the “Producteur;” 1825–26, he had won the favourable opinion of many eminent men of science and literature. Amongst these are mentioned Delambre, Fourier, Blainville, Bonnin, Poinsot, Carnot, Guizot. J. P. Say, Dunover, Professor Buchholtz of Berlin, de Villèle, Lamennais. For a few freely he was private secretary to Casimir-Périer, but his independent spirit declined to accept the duties required. In April, 1820 (aetat. 28). he opened in his own rooms a course of public lectures on to Positive Philosophy, which was to extend to seventy-two lectures, from 1st April, 1826. to 1st April. l827. Amongst,

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his audience were such men as Broussais, Blainville, Poinsot, J. Fourier, Alexander von Humboldt, D’Eichthal, Montebello, Carnot, son of the famous general, Cerclet, Montgéry, and other young students. The series was in fact that which was subsequently published. At the fourth lecture the course was abruptly broken off. Intense mental strain, together with domestic misery, brought on an attack of insanity. He left his home in a state of distraction, and was placed in an asylum by his friend Broussais. There he remained for seven months.

The devotion of his mother and his wife, who took him from the care of Dr. Esquirol whilst still suffering from the disease, succeeded in gradually restoring his reason. An epoch of profound despair followed, during which he threw himself into the Seine, but was rescued, and thenceforth he resolved to devote himself with patience and resignation to the work of his life, supporting himself with private lessons. In January, 1829, be resumed his course of lectures on the Positive Philosophy, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the same eminent men amongst his audience. with the exception of Humboldt, who was no longer in France. On this occasion he completed the whole series of lectures, and in December, 1829, he repeated them in a public course at the Athértée. He also gave other gratuitous public lectures, including the series on Popular Astronomy which he repeated during eighteen years, from 1830 to 1848. In 1832, Comte was appointed répétiteurof analytic mathematics at the École Polytechnique, at the instance of M. Navier, then professor there; and in 1837 he was named examiner of the candidates for admission. For a short time he filled the place of the Professor.

The work of which these three volumes are a condensation was published at intervals from 1830 to 1842. The first volume, containing the Introduction and the philosophy of Mathematics, was published separately, with a dedication to Baron Fourier and M. de Blainville. A brief note described it as the result of the author’s labours from the year 1816, and as a development of the new ideas put forth in his early essay of 1822, entitled a “System of Positive Polity.” The second volume, comprising Astronomy and Physics, did not appear until 1835, owing to the commercial disasters of the Revolution of July. The third volume, comprising Chemistry and Biology appeared in 1838. The new science of Sociology, which was intended to be comprised in a single volume, ultimately extended to three volumes, published in 1839, l841, and 1842. The last volume, containing nearly a thousand pages, was introduced by a personal preface to explain the prolongation of the world over twelve