comte, auguste - the positive philosophy vol III

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this kind of analysis, we are warranted in saving that the moral power of Catholicism was due to its suitability as an organ of general opinions, which must become the more powerfully universal from their active reproduction by an independent and venerated clergy; and that personal interest in a future life has had, comparatively, very little influence at any time upon practical conduct.

The moral regeneration wrought by Catholicism was begun by the elevation of Morals to that social supremacy before accorded to polity. This was done by subordinating private and variable to the most general and permanent needs, through the consideration of the elementary conditions of human nature common to all social states and individual conditions. It was these great necessities which determined the special mission of the spiritual power, whose function it was to express them in a form of universal doctrine, and to invest them with sanctity in real life, individual and social; a function which supposed an entire independence of the temporal power. No doubt, this beneficent social action was much impaired by its connection with the theological philosophy,—by the vagueness with which that philosophy infected its moral prescriptions,— be the too arbitrary moral authority possessed by the directing body, whose absolute precepts would otherwise we been impracticable,—and again, by the inherent contradiction of a doctrine which proposed to cultivate the social affections by the prior encouragement of an exorbitant selfishness, for ever occupied with its own future lot, looking for infinite reward for the smallest well-doing, and thus neutralizing the sympathetic element which resides in the benign universal affection of the love of God,—yet these great and inevitable evils have not prevented, but only impaired, a regeneration which could not have begun in any other way, though it must be carried on and perfected on a better intellectual basis in time to come.

Thus was Morality finally placed at the head of social necessities, by conceiving of all the faculties of our nature as means subordinate to the great end of human life, directly sanctioned by a universal doctrine, properly erected into a type of all action, individual and social. It must be acknowledged that there was something thoroughly hostile to human development in the way in which Christianity conceived of the social supremacy of morality,—greatly as this opposition has been exaggerated; but Catholicism, at its best period, restrained this tendency, inasmuch as it recognized capacity as the basis of its ecclesiastical constitution: but the elementary disposition, whose philosophical danger be-

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came apparent only when the Catholic system was in its decline, did not interfere with the radical justness of the social decision which subordinated mind itself to morality. Superior minds, which multiplied in number by means of spreading cultivation, have always, and especially of late, secretly rebelled against a decision which restrained their unlimited ambition, but it will be eternally confirmed, with deep-felt gratitude, amidst all disturbances, both by the multitude to whose welfare it is directed, and by philosophical insight, which can fitly analyze its immutable. Though mental superiority is the rarest and most valuable of all, it can never realize its highest expansion unless it is subordinated to a lofty morality, on account of the natural feebleness of the spiritual faculties in human nature. Without this condition, the best developed genius must degenerate into a secondary instrument of narrow personal satisfaction. instead of pursuing that large social destination which can alone offer it a field and sustenance worthy of its nature. Hence, if it is philosophical. it will strive to systematize society in accordance with its own inclinations if scientific, it will be satisfied with superficial conceptions, such as will procure an easy and profitable success: if aesthetic, it will produce unprincipled works, aspiring, at almost any cost, to a rapid and ephemeral popularity: and if industrial, it will not aim at capital inventions, but at lucrative modifications. These melancholy results of mind deprived of moral direction, which cannot annul the value of social genius, though largely neutralizing it, must be most vicious among men of second-rate ability, who have a weaker spontaneousness; and then intelligence, which is valuable only in improving the prevision, the appreciation, and the satisfaction of the chief real needs of the individual and of society, issues in an unsocial vanity, or in absurd pretensions to rule society in virtue of capacity, which, released from the moral condition of the general welfare, becomes equally injurious to private and public happiness. In the view of all who have studied human nature, universal love as proposed by Catholicism, is of more importance than intellectual good itself, because love males the most of even the humblest mental faculties, for the benefit of each and all; whereas selfishness perverts or paralyses the most eminent powers, which then become more disturbing than beneficial to both public and private welfare. Such is the evidence of the profound wisdom of Catholicism in placing morality at the head of human interests, as the guide and controller of an human action. It thus certainly established the main principle of social life: a principle which, however occasionally discredited or obscured by

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dangerous sophisms, will ever arise with increasing clearness and power from a deepening study of the true nature of Man.

In all moral appreciation of Catholicism we must bear in mind that, in consequence of the separation between the spiritual and the temporal power, and therefore of the independence of morality in regard to polity, the moral doctrine must be composed of a series of types, Which, not expressing immediate practical reality, fix the ideal limit to which our conduct must approximate more and more. These moral types are, in nature and object, analogous to the scientific and aesthetic types which guide our various conceptions, and which are needed in the simplest human operations, even the industrial It would be as wise to reproach the artist for the unattainable perfection of his ideal model, as Catholic morality for the supposed exaggeration of its requirements. In both cases the attainment will fall short of the ideal; but it will be greater than it could be without the ideal. The philosophical instincts of Catholicism led it to fulfil the practical conditions of the case by transferring the type from the abstract to the concrete state. It applied its social genius in gradually concentrating in the Founder of their system all the perfection that they could imagine in human nature, thus constituting a universal and operative type, admirably adapted to the moral guidance of humanity, and in which the highest and the humblest could alike find a model for human conduct; and they completed the lesson by the addition of that yet more ideal conception which offers as the feminine type the beautiful mystic reconciliation of purity with maternity.

There is no department of general morality which was not eminently improved by Catholicism, as I could show, if my space and my purpose admitted of it. I can only briefly point out the most important instances of advancement; under the three heads of personal, domestic, and social morality.

The great aim being the exaltation of reason over passion, Catholicism justly regarded personal virtues as the basis of all others. The sanitary practices and the personal privations it imposed had therefore some social efficacy, being, at the least, beneficial auxiliaries to moral education,—especially in the Middle Ages. Again, the personal virtues which were recommended in more ancient times as a matter of individual prudence were now first conceived of in a social connection. Humility, strongly enforced by Catholicism as to form a popular reproach against it, was of eminent importance, not only during a period of haughty oppression which proved its necessity, but in reference to the

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permanent moral wants of human nature, in which we need not fear that pride and vanity will ever be too much repressed. Nothing is more remarkable, under this head, than the reprobation of suicide, which had been erected into a sort of honour among the ancients, who valued their own lives no more than other people’s; or, at least, into a resource which their philosophers were not blamed for recurring to This anti-social practice would no doubt have declined with the predominance of military manners, but it is certainly one of the moral glories of Catholicism to have organized an energetic condemnation of it.

Under Catholicism, domestic morality issued forth from the subjection to polity in which the ancients had placed it, and assumed its proper rank. When the spiritual and temporal orders were separated, it was felt that the domestic life must henceforth be the most important for the mass of mankind,—political life being reserved for the exceptional few, instead of absorbing everything else, as it did when the question concerned the minority of free men in a population of slaves. The special care of Catholicism for domestic life induced such a multitude of happy results as defies even the most summary analysis here. The reader must imagine for himself the improvement in human families when Catholic influence penetrated every relation, to develope without tyranny the sense of reciprocal duty,—solemnly sanctioning, for instance, the paternal authority, while abolishing the ancient patriarchal despotism, under which infants were murdered or abandoned,—as they still were, beyond the pale of monotheism. I can specially notice only what relates to the closest tie of all, with regard to which I am of opinion that we have only to consolidate and complete what Catholicism has happily organized. No one now denies that it essentially improved the social condition of women; but it is seldom or never remarked that it deprived them of all participation whatever in sacerdotal functions, even in the constitution of the monastic orders to which they were admitted. I may add that it also, as far as possible, precluded them from royalty in all countries in which it had political influence enough to modify, by the consideration of aptitude, the theocratic principle of hereditary succession, embodied in caste. The benefit bestowed on women by Catholicism consisted in rendering their lives essentially domestic, in securing the due liberty of their interior existence, and in establishing their position by sanctifying the indissolubleness of marriage; whereas, even among the Romans, who married but one wife, the condition of women was seriously injured by the power of divorce. I shall have occasion hereafter to treat of the evils

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attending the power of divorce. In the intermediate period of human history, when Catholicism interdicted it, that beneficent influence so connected the two sexes that, under the morals and manners of the system, the wife acquired an imprescriptible right, independent even of her own conduct, to an unconditional participation in not only all the social advantages of him who had once chosen her, but, as far as possible, in the consideration he enjoyed; and it would be difficult to imagine any practicable arrangement more favourable to the dependent sex. As civilization developes the essential differences of the sexes, among others, it has excluded women more and more from all functions that can withdraw them from their domestic vocation. It is in the hither classes of society that women work out their destination with the least hindrance; and it is there, in consequence, that we may look for a kind of spontaneous type, towards which the condition of women must, on the whole, tend; and looking there, we apprehend at once the law of social progression, as regards the sexes, which consists in disengaging women more and more from all employment that is foreign to their domestic functions; so that, for instance, we shall hereafter reject, as disgraceful to Man, in all ranks, as now in the higher, the practice of subjecting women to laborious occupations; whereas they should be universally, and more and more exclusively, set apart for their characteristic offices of wife and mother.

In regard to social morality, properly so called, every one will admit the distinctive influence of Catholicism in modifying the energetic but savage patriotism of the ancients by the higher sentiment of humanity or universal brotherhood so happily popularized by it under the sweet name of charity. No doubt the nature of the Christian doctrines, and the religious antipathies which resulted from them, greatly restricted this hypothetical universality of affection, which was generally limited to Christian peoples, but within these limits the brotherly affections of different nations were powerfully developed, apart from the common faith with was its principle, by their uniform habitual subordination to one spiritual authority, whose members were, notwithstanding their separate nationalities, fellow citizens of Christendom. It is a true remark that the improvement of European relations, the advancement of international law, and the humane conditions imposed, more and more, on war itself, may all be referred to the period when Catholic influence brought all parts of Europe into connection. In the interior condition of each nation the duties which arise out of the great Catholic principle of universal

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brotherhood, and which have temporarily failed only through the decay of the theological system which imposed them, afforded the best obtainable means to remedy the inconveniences inseparable from the social state; and especially the imperfect distribution of wealth. This was the source of so many admirable foundations devoted to the. solace of human suffering, institutions unknown in ancient times, andthe more remarkable because they usually grew out of private munificence, in which public co-operation has seldom any part.—While expanding the universal sentiment of social union, Catholicism did not neglect that of perpetuity, which is, as I have before pointed out, its natural complement, connecting all times as well as all places. This was the general use of the great system of customary commemoration, so happily constructed by Catholicism, in wise imitation of polytheism. If I had space, it would be easy to show how wise were the precautions introduced by Catholicism, and usually respected to make canonization, replacing deification, fulfil its social purpose by avoiding the disgraceful abuses caused by the confusion of the spiritual and temporal powers among the Greeks. and yet more the Romans, in their declining period: so that the lofty recompense was very rarely decreed to men who were not more or less eminently worthy, remarkable, or useful, while they were selected, with careful impartiality, from every class of society, from the highest to the lowest.

We may now form some idea of the vastness of the moral regeneration accomplished by Catholicism in the Middle Ages. Impaired as it was by the imperfections of the philosophy, and the difficulties of the social phase of the time, it manifested the true nature of the requisite improvement, the spirit which must guide it, and the attendant conditions, in preparation for the time when a sounder philosophy should permit the completion of the work. It remains for us to review the intellectual attributes of the system. It may appear that the supreme importance of the social mission of Catholicism could not but restrict the development of its intellectual characteristics: but the consequences of those attributes make up our present experience, and all that has happened in human history, from the Catholic period till now, is an unbroken chain of connection which lines our own period with that cradle of modern civilization. We shall see that the entire spiritual movement of modern times is referrible to that memorable season in human history, which Protestantism is pleased to call the dark ages.

Our theory explains how the intellectual movement of the monotheistic system might be retarded without its following that the system was

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hostile to human progression. It never was so except during its decline, (and then much less than is commonly supposed,) when it was engrossed with the cares of self preservation. It is an exaggeration also to attribute to the Germanic invasions the retardation of intellectual development during the Middle Ages; for the decline was taking place for centuries before the invasions were of any engrossing importance. Two facts, one of time and one of place, may throw light upon this ill-understood question. The supposed revival of human intelligence (which however had not been asleep, but only otherwise employed), in other words, the acceleration of the mental movement immediately followed upon the full maturity of the Catholic system, in the eleventh century, and took place during its high social ascendancy. Again, it was in the very centre of this dominion, and almost before the eyes of the supreme sacerdotal authority, that the acceleration appeared, for it is impossible to deny the superiority of Italy in the Middle Ages, under all the four aspects of intellectual action. These two facts are enough to show how favourable Catholicism then was to human development. The preceding inactivity was owing to the laborious and anxious character of the task of organizing the system; a work of supreme importance, absorbing almost the whole intellectual resources, and commanding the strongest interest of the peoples concerned: so that the provisional direction of the mental movement was left to second-rate minds, amidst a state of affairs which was unfavourable to marked progression, and which barely allowed the preservation of what had been gained. This seems to me the simple and rational explanation of this apparent anomaly: and it releases us from the necessity of imputing to any men, institutions, or events any tendency to repress the human mind, while it refers us to the great obligation to devote the highest abilities to the task required, in each are, by the chief needs of mankind: and certainly nothing could in this view, be more interesting to all thinkers than the progressive development of Catholic institutions. The intellectual movement, which had never stopped, was joined, in the time of Hildebrand, by all the intellect that was set free by the completion of the Catholic system, and of its application to political life; and then were realized the vast consequences which we shall have to review in a subsequent chapter. The share attributed to the Arabs in the revival is much exaggerated, though they may have assisted a movement which would have taken place, somewhat more slowly, without them: and their intervention had nothing accidental about it. Mohammed attempted to organize monotheism among a

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people who were in every way unprepared for it: the effort issued in a monstrous political concentration, in the form of a military theocracy: yet the intellectual qualities inherent in monotheism could not be wholly annulled; and they even expanded with the more rapidity from the failure of the corresponding regime, whereby the highest spiritual capacities were left free for intellectual pursuits; and especially for those which had been remanded to the East, white the West was occupied with the development of the Catholic system. Thus the Arabs make their appearance in the midst of the western interregnum, without their intervention being at all necessary in the transition from the Greek to the modern evolution. The special reasons for the intellectual properties of the monotheistic system being developed only in the age of its decline, will be best considered when I treat of that decline. Having assigned the general grounds of the delay, I have to notice briefly the four aspects in which the mental influence of Catholicism presents itself.

The aptitude of Catholicism for philosophy is as remarkable as it is ill-appreciated. However imperfect we now know the theological philosophy to be, it exercised a happy influence over the intellectual development of the multitude, among whom, as we have seen, it is the glory of the system to have spread its educational benefits. They were lifted above the narrow circle of their material life; their habitual feelings were purified; and sound, though empirical notions of the moral nature of Man, and even some dawn of historical conception, through the connection of general history with the Church, were conveyed to the whole range of classes of society. Through the efforts of Catholicism to prove its superiority to former systems, even the great philosophical principle of human progression began to arise throughout Christendom,—how- ever inadequate in strength or quality. When each individual thus became empowered to judge of human actions, personal and collective, by a fundamental doctrine, the spirit of social discussion which distinguishes modern periods began to arise. It could not exist among subordinate persons while the two authorities were concentrated in the same holders: and, when the separation was effected, the spirit of discussion was long restrained by the intellectual discipline imposed by the vague and arbitrary nature of the theological philosophy: but it was at this time that it began to move.—As for the cultivated class the leading fact on their behalf was that Catholicism generally allowed free scope to the metaphysical philosophy to which the polytheistic regime Was hostile. It was milder Catholicism that the metaphysical philosophy was ex-

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tended to moral and social questions; and, in proof of the protecting disposition of the regime, we have the fact that the calumniated Middle Ages gave the first worthy reception to the most advanced part of Greek philosophy,—that is, to the doctrine of Aristotle, which had certainly newer been so appreciated before,—even by the Greeks themselves. We must point to the separation of the spiritual and temporal powers as an intellectual as well as social service, because it separated at the same time social theory from practice, and thus laid the foundation of social science, in distinction from mere Utopias. Earnestly as I have insisted that social science is only now beginning, to be formed, I acknowledge with gratitude that its source lies in that remote age, called dark; where it is seldom sought for by those who make the freest use of its benefits. The scientific influence of Catholicism was equally favourable. Monotheism is not, it is true, very consistent with the conception of the invariableness of natural laws, and there is a stage of human development at which the monotheistic doctrine, with its conception of an arbitrary will as the universal governing power, is the only essential obstacle to the view which lies at the base of science. But that stage was not in the Middle Age period; and monotheism was of immense service in disengaging the scientific spirit from the trammels imposed by polytheism. Before, a few simple mathematical speculations were all that was possible, when all scientific inquiry must clash with the theological explanations which extended to the minutest details of all phenomena. When monotheism concentrated the supernatural action, it opened a much freer access to these secondary studies, and did not interpose any sacred doctrine as an obstacle, as long as some vague and general formulas were respected. and at that time, the religious disposition to admiration of divine wisdom, which has since proved a retrograde influence, was promotive of scientific inquiry. I need not point out that, as polytheism was a state of religious decline, in comparison with fetishism, so was monotheism in regard to polytheism. The suppression of inspiration, with all its train of oracles and prophecies, apparitions and miracles, testifies to the noble efforts of Catholicism to enlarge, at the expense of the theological spirit, the as yet narrow field of human reason, as far as the philosophy of the period would allow. Adding to these considerations that of the facilities which sacerdotal life afforded to intellectual culture, we may conceive of the happy influence of the monotheistic regime on the growth of the chief natural sciences:—in the creation of Chemistry, founded on Aristotle’s conception of the four elements, and

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sustained by the wild hopes which were necessary to stimulate nascent experimentation:—in the improvement of Anatomy, so restricted in more ancient times:—and in the development of pre-existing mathematical speculation and astronomical knowledge; a progression which was attested by the rise of algebra, as a distinct branch of ancient arithmetic, and by that of trigonometry, which was, in the hands of the Greeks, too imperfect and limited for the growing requirements of astronomy.

The aesthetic influence of monotheism did not reach its highest point till the next period; but it is impossible to be blind to its scope when we consider the progress made by music and architecture during the Middle Ages. The introduction of musical notation and the development of harmony gave a wholly new character to Song; and the same extension was given to instrumental music by the creation of its most powerful and complete organ; and the share borne by Catholic influence in each needs no pointing out. Its effect on the progress of Architecture is equally clear. It was not only that there was a great change in ordinary habitations, in consequence of the private relations which, under Catholic and feudal encouragement, succeeded to the isolation of the domestic life of the ancients. Besides these improvements in private life, there arose those religious edifices which are the most perfect monumental expression of the ideas and feelings of our moral nature, and which will for ever, notwithstanding the decay of the corresponding beliefs, awaken in every true philosopher a emotion of social sympathy. Polytheism, besides that its worship was outside the temples, could not originate an improvement which was appropriate to a system of universal instruction, followed up by a continuous habit of personal meditation. In regard to poetry, it is enough to name Dante to show what the system could effect, notwithstanding the obstacles presented by the slow and laborious elaboration of the modern languages, and the difficulty arising from the equivocal and unstable character of the corresponding social state which no as unfavourable to poetical inspiration. I noticed before the superior aptitude of polytheism in this respect even to this day, as is shown by the inability of even our best poets to free modern poetry from its traces. As to the rest, the influence of the period, in this case as in others, so stretches forward into the next, that we cannot appreciate its services fully till we arrive at that part of our analysis.

Turning now to the lower and more universal aspect of the mental movement,—the industrial,—it is clear that, starting from the time of personal emancipation, we must adjourn the estimate of industrial