AUGUSTE [ISIDORE AUGUSTE See also:

• MARIE

MARIE See also:

• FRANCOIS (1558-1614)

FRANCOIS See also:

• XAVIER, FRANCISCO DE (1506-1552)

XAVIER] See also:

• AUGUSTE [ISIDORE AUGUSTE MARIE FRANCOIS XAVIER] COMTE (1798-1857)

COMTE (1798-1857)  , See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

French See also:

• POSITIVE (or PORTABLE) ORGAN

Positive philosopher, was See also:

• BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born on the 19th of See also:

• JANUARY

January 1798 at See also:

• MONTPELLIER

Montpellier, where his See also:

• FATHER

father was a See also:

• RECEIVER

receiver-See also:

• GENERAL
• GENERAL (Lat. generalis, of or relating to a genus, kind or class)

general of taxes for the See also:

• DISTRICT

district . He was sent for his earliest instruction to the school of the See also:

• TOWN

town, and in 1814 was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique . His youth was marked by a See also:

• CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant willingness to See also:

• REBEL, JOHANN PETER (176o-1826)

rebel against merely See also:

• OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official authority; to genuine excellence, whether moral or intellectual, he was always ready to pay unbounded deference . That strenuous application which was one of his most remarkable gifts in manhood showed itself in his youth, and his application was backed or inspired by See also:

• SUPERIOR

superior intelligence and aptness . After he had been two years at the Ecole Polytechnique he took a foremost See also:

• PART

part in a mutinous demonstration against one of the masters; the school was broken up, and See also:

• COMTE, AUGUSTE [ISIDORE AUGUSTE MARIE FRANCOIS XAVIER] (1798-1857)

Comte like the other scholars was sent See also:

• HOME
• HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS (1833-1886)
• HOME, EARLS OF

home . To the See also:

• GREAT

great dissatisfaction of his parents, he resolved to return to See also:

• PARIS
• PARIS (also called ALEXANDROS)
• PARIS, ALEXIS PAULIN (1800-x881)
• PARIS, BRUNO PAULIN GASTON (1839-1903)
• PARIS, FRANCOIS DE (169o-1727)
• PARIS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ALBERT
• PARIS, TREATIES OF (1814-1815)

Paris 0816), and to See also:

• EARN

earn his living there by giving lessons in See also:

• MATHEMATICS (Gr. /saBnµar1Kil, Sc. vOcvn or E7rlQTt'µn; from p iN.La, "learning" or "science ")

mathematics . See also:

• BENJAMIN
• BENJAMIN, JUDAHPHILIP (1811-1884)

Benjamin See also:

• FRANKLIN
• FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN (1706-1790)
• FRANKLIN, SIR JOHN (1786-1847)
• FRANKLIN, WILLIAM BUEL (1823-1903)

Franklin was the youth's idol at this moment . " I seek to imitate the See also:

• MODERN

modern See also:

• SOCRATES

Socrates," he wrote to a school friend, " not in talents, but in way of living . You know that at five-and-twenty he formed the See also:

• DESIGN (Fr. desiin, drawing; Lat. designare, to mark out)

design of becoming perfectly See also:

• WISE, HENRY ALEXANDER (1806-1876)
• WISE, ISAAC MAYER (1819-1900)

wise and that he fulfilled his design . I have dared to undertake the same thing, though I am not yet twenty." Though Comte's See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character and aims were as far removed as possible from Franklin's type, neither Franklin nor any See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man that ever lived could surpass him in the heroic tenacity with which, in the See also:

• FACE (from Lat. fades, derived either from facere, to make, or from a root fa-, meaning " appear "; cf. Gr. cbatvstv)

face of a thousand obstacles, he pursued his own ideal of a vocation . For a moment circumstances led him to think of seeking a career in See also:

• AMERICA

America, but a friend who preceded him thither warned him of the purely See also:

• PRACTICAL

practical spirit that prevailed in the new See also:

• COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country . " If See also:

• LAGRANGE, JOSEPH LOUIS (1736-1813)

Lagrange were to come to the See also:

• UNITED

United States, he could only earn his livelihood by turning See also:

• LAND

land surveyor." So Comte remained in Paris, living as he best could on something less than £8o a See also:

• YEAR

year, and hoping, when he took the trouble to break his meditations upon greater things by hopes about himself, that he might by and by obtain an See also:

• APPOINTMENT, POWER OF

appointment as mathematical See also:

• MASTER (Lat. magister, related to tnagis, more, as the corresponding minister is to minus, less; the English form is due partly to the O. Eng. maegister, and partly to O. Fr. maistre, mod. maitre; cf. Du. meester, Ger. Meister, Ital. maestro)

master in a school .

A friend procured him a situation as See also:

• TUTOR (Lat. tutor, guardian, tueri, to watch over, protect)

tutor in the See also:

• HOUSE
• HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

house of Casimir See also:

• PERIER, CASIMIR PIERRE (1777-1832)

Perier . The See also:

• SALARY

salary was See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good, but the duties were too See also:

• MISCELLANEOUS

miscellaneous, and what was still worse, there was an end of the delicious See also:

• LIBERTY (Lat. libertas, from liber, free)

liberty of the See also:

• GARRET (from the O. Fr. garite, modern guerite, a watch-tower, connected ultimately with " guard " and " ward ")

garret . After a See also:

• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short experience of three See also:

• WEEKS, EDWIN LORD (1849-1903)

weeks Comte returned to neediness and contentment . He was not altogether without the See also:

• YOUNG
• YOUNG, A
• YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741-1820)
• YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-1877)
• YOUNG, CHARLES MAYNE (1777–1856)
• YOUNG, EDWARD (1683–1765)
• YOUNG, JAMES (1811-1883)
• YOUNG, THOMAS (1773-1829)

young man's appetite for See also:

• PLEASURE (through Fr. plaisir from Lat. placere, to please; Gr. rlbovii)

pleasure; yet when he was only nineteen we find him wondering, amid the gaieties of the See also:

• CARNIVAL (Med. Lat. carnelevarium, from taro, tarns, flesh, and levare, to lighten or put aside; the derivation from valere, to say farewell, is unsupported)

carnival of 1817, how a See also:

• GAVOTTE (a French word adopted from the Provencal gavoto)

gavotte or a See also:

• MINUET (adapted, under the influence of the Italian minuetto, from Fr. menuet, small, pretty, delicate, a diminutive of menu, from Lat. minutus; the word refers probably to the short steps, pas menus, taken in the dance)

minuet could make See also:

• PEOPLE

people forget that See also:

• THIRTY

thirty thousand human beings around them had barely a morsel to eat . Towards 18r8 Comte became associated as friend and See also:

• DISCIPLE

disciple with See also:

• SAINT (lat. sanctus, " holy ")

Saint-See also:

• SIMON, ABRAHAM (1622-1692)
• SIMON, JULES FRANCOIS (1814–1896)
• SIMON, RICHARD (1638–1712)
• SIMON, SIR JOHN (1816–1904)
• SIMON, THOMAS (c. 1623-1665)

Simon, who was destined to exercise a very decisive See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence upon the turn of his See also:

• SPECULATION

speculation . In after years he so far forgot himself as to write of Saint-Simon as a depraved See also:

• QUACK

quack, and to deplore his connexion with him as purely mischievous . While the connexion lasted he thought very differently . Saint-Simon is described as the most estimable and lovable of men, and the most delightful in his relations; he is the worthiest of philosophers . Even at the very moment when Comte was congratulating himself on having thrown off the yoke, he honestly admits that Saint-Simon's influence has been of powerful service in his philosophic See also:

• EDUCATION

education . " I certainly," he writes to his most intimate friend, " am under great See also:

• PERSONAL

personal obligations to Saint-Simon; that is to say, he helped in a powerful degree to See also:

• LAUNCH

launch me in the philosophical direction that I have now definitely marked out for myself, and that I shall follow without looking back for the See also:

• REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of my See also:

• LIFE

life." Even if there were no such unmistakable expressions as these, the most cursory glance into Saint-Simon's writings is enough to reveal the See also:

• THREAD (0. Eng. praed, literally, that which is twisted, prawan, to twist, to throw, cf. " throwster," a silk-winder, Ger. drehen, to twist, turn, Du. draad, Ger. Draht, thread, wire)

thread of connexion between the ingenious visionary and the systematic thinker . We see the See also:

• DEBT (Lat. debitum, a thing owed)

debt, and we also see that when it is stated at the highest possible, nothing has really been taken either from Comte's claims as a powerful See also:

• ORIGINAL

original thinker, or from his immeasurable pre-See also:

• EMINENCE (Lat. eminentia)

eminence over Saint-Simon in intellectual grasp and vigour and coherence . As high a degree of originality may be shown in transformation as in invention, as See also:

• MOLIERE (1622-1673)

Moliere and See also:

• SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564-1616)

Shakespeare have proved in the region of dramatic See also:

• ART

art .

In See also:

• PHILOSOPHY (Gr. gthos, fond of, and vo4 (a, wisdom)

philosophy the conditions are not different . II faut prendre son bier ou on le trouve . It is' no detriment to Comte's fame that some of the ideaswhich he recombined and incorporated in a great philosophic structure had their origin in ideas that were produced almost at See also:

• RANDOM (older forms randon, randrun; from the French, cf. randir, to run quickly, impetuously; generally taken to be of Teutonic origin and connected with Ger. Rand, edge, brim, the idea being possibly of a brimming river)

random in the incessant See also:

• FERMENTATION

fermentation of Saint-Simon's See also:

• BRAIN (A.S. braegen)

brain . Comte is in no true sense a follower of Saint-Simon, but it was undoubtedly Saint-Simon who launched him, to take Comte's own word, by suggesting the two starting-points of what See also:

• GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew into the Comtist See also:

• SYSTEM

system—first, that See also:

• POLITICAL

political phenomena are as capable of being grouped under See also:

• LAWS

laws as other phenomena; and second, that the true destination of philosophy must be social, and the true See also:

• OBJECT

object of the thinker must be the reorganization of the moral, religious and political systems . We can readily see what an impulse these far-reaching conceptions would give to Comte's meditations . There were conceptions of less importance than these, in which it is impossible not to feel that it was Saint-Simon's wrong or imperfect See also:

• IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea that put his young admirer on the track to a right and perfected idea . The subject is not worthy of further discussion . That Comte would have performed some great intellectual achievement, if Saint-Simon had never been born, is certain . It is hardly less certain that the great achievement which he did actually perform was originally set in See also:

• MOTION (Lat. motio, from movere, to move)
• MOTION, LAWS OF

motion by Saint-Simon's conversation, though it was afterwards directly filiated with the fertile speculations of A . R . J . See also:

• TURGOT, ANNE ROBERT JACQUES, BARON DE

Turgot and See also:

• CONDORCET, MARIE JEAN ANTOINE NICOLAS CARITAT, MARQUIS DE (1743-1794)

Condorcet .

Comte thought almost as meanly of See also:

• PLATO

Plato as he did of Saint-Simon, and he considered See also:

• ARISTOTLE
• ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.)

Aristotle the See also:

• PRINCE
• PRINCE (Lat. princeps, from primus capio, " I am the first to take "; Ital. principe, Fr. prince)

prince of all true thinkers; yet their vital difference about Ideas did not prevent Aristotle from calling Plato master . After six years the See also:

• DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

differences between the old and the young philosopher grew too marked for friendship . Comte began to See also:

• FRET

fret under Saint-Simon's pretensions to be his director . Saint-Simon, on the other See also:

• HAND
• HAND (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
• HAND, FERDINAND GOTTHELF (1786-185r)

hand, perhaps began to See also:

• FELL
• FELL, JOHN (1625-1686)

fell uncomfortably conscious of the superiority of his disciple . The occasion of the See also:

• BREACH (Mid. Eng. breche, derived from the common Teutonic root brec, which appears in " break," Ger. brechen, &c.)

breach between them (1824) was an See also:

• ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt on Saint-Simon's part to See also:

• PRINT

print a See also:

• PRODUCTION (Lat. productionem, from producere, to pro-duce)

production of Comte's as ifitwereinsomesortconnected with Saint-Simon's schemes of social reorganization . Not only was the breach not repaired, but See also:

• LONG, GEORGE (1800-1879)
• LONG, JOHN DAVIS (1838– )

long afterwards Comte, as we have said, with painful ungraciousness took to calling the encourager of his youth by very hard names . 1111825 Comte married a Mdlle See also:

• CAROLINE
• CAROLINE (1683-1737)

Caroline Massin . His See also:

• MARRIAGE

marriage was one of those of which " magnanimity owes no See also:

• ACCOUNT
• ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)

account to prudence," and it did not turn out prosperously . Marriage . His See also:

• FAMILY

family were strongly See also:

• CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

Catholic and royalist, and they were outraged by his refusal to have the marriage performed other than civilly . They consented, however, to receive his wife, and the pair went on a visit to Montpellier . Madame Comte conceived a dislike to the circle she found there, and this was the too See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early beginning of disputes which lasted for the See also:

• REMAINDER, REVERSION

remainder of their See also:

• UNION
• UNION (known locally as Union Hill and officially as Town of Union)

union .

In the year of his marriage we find Comte See also:

• WRITING
• WRITING (the verbal noun of " to write," O. Eng. writan, to inscribe)

writing to the most intimate of his correspondents:—" I have nothing See also:

• LEFT

left but to concentrate my whole moral existence in my intellectual See also:

• WORK

work, a See also:

• PRECIOUS (O. Fr. precios, mod. precieux, Lat. pretiosus, of high value or price, pretium)

precious but inadequate See also:

• COMPENSATION (from Lat. compensare, to weigh one thing against another)

compensation; and so I must give up, if not the most dazzling, still the sweetest part of my happiness." He tried to find pupils to See also:

• BOARD (O. Eng. bord)

board with him, but only one See also:

• PUPIL (Lat. pupillus, orphan, minor, dim. of pupus, boy, allied to puer, from root pm- or peu-, to beget, cf. "pupa," Lat. for " doll," the name given to the stage intervening between the larval and imaginal stages in certain insects)

pupil came, and he was soon sent away for lack of companions . " I would rather spend an evening," wrote the needy enthusiast, " in solving a difficult question, than in See also:

• RUNNING

running after some empty-headed and consequential millionaire in See also:

• SEARCH, or VISIT AND SEARCH

search of a pupil." A little See also:

• MONEY

money was earned by an occasional See also:

• ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article in Le Producteur, in which he began to expound the philosophic ideas that were now maturing in his mind' . He announced a course of lectures (1826), which it was hoped would bring money as well as fame, and which were to be the first dogmatic exposition of the Positive Philosophy . A friend had said to him, " You talk too freely, your ideas are getting abroad, and other people use then without giving you the See also:

• CREDIT (Lat. credere, to believe)

credit; put your ownership on See also:

• RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record." The lectures attracted hearers so eminent as See also:

• HUMBOLDT, FRIEDRICH HEINRICH ALEXANDER, BARON
• HUMBOLDT, KARL WILHELM VON (1767-1835)

Humboldt the cosmologist, See also:

• POINSOT, LOUIS (1777–1859)

Poinsot the geometer and See also:

• BLAINVILLE
• BLAINVILLE, HENRI MARIE DUCROTAY DE (1777–1850)

Blainville the physiologist . Unhappily, after the third lecture of the course, Comte had a severe attack of cerebral derangement, brought on by intense and prolonged meditation, acting on a system that was already irritated by the chagrin of domestic discomfort . He did not recover his See also:

• HEALTH

health for more than a year, and as soon as convalescence set in he was seized by so profound a See also:

• MELANCHOLY (Gr. µe)tayXotia, from µEtas, black, and Xotii, bile)

melancholy at the disaster which had thus overtaken him, that he threw himself into the See also:

• SEINE
• SEINE (Lat. Sequana)
• SEINE, or SEAN (O. Fr. seigne, mod. seine, Lat. sagena, Gr. vaytivrl, a draw-net)

Seine . Fortunately he was rescued, and the One incident of this painful See also:

• EPISODE

episode is See also:

• WORTH
• WORTH, CHARLES FREDERICK (1825-1895)

worth r'nentioning . See also:

• LAMENNAIS, HUGUES

Lamennais, then in the height of his Catholic exaltation, persuaded Comte's See also:

• MOTHER

mother to insist on her son being married with the religious ceremony, and as the younger Madame Comte apparently did not resist, the rite was duly performed, in spite of the fact that Comte was at the See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time raving mad . Philosophic assailants of Comtism have not always resisted the temptation to recall the circumstance that its founder was once out of his mind . As has been justly said, if See also:

• NEWTON
• NEWTON, ALFRED (1829–1907)
• NEWTON, JOHN (1725-1807)
• NEWTON, JOHN (1823-1895)
• NEWTON, SIR CHARLES THOMAS (1816-1894)
• NEWTON, SIR ISAAC (1642-1727)

Newton once suffered a cerebral attack without forfeiting our veneration for the Principia, Comte may have suffered in the same way, and still not have forfeited our respect for Positive Philosophy and Positive Polity . In 1828 the lectures were renewed, and in 183o was published the first See also:

• VOLUME

volume of the Course of Positive Philosophy . The See also:

• SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch and ground See also:

• PLAN
• PLAN (from Lat. planes, flat)

plan of this great undertaking had published in 1842 .

The twelve years covering the publication of the first of Comte's two elaborate See also:

• WORKS

works were years of indefatigable toil, and they were the only portion of his life in which he enjoyed a certain measure, and that a very modest measure, of material prosperity . In 1833 he was appointed examiner of the boys who in the various provincial See also:

• SCHOOLS

schools aspired to enter the Ecole Polytechnique at Paris . This and two other engagements as a teacher of mathematics secured him an income of some £400 a year . He made M . See also:

• GUIZOT, FRANCOIS PIERRE GUILLAUME (1787-1874)

Guizot, then See also:

• LOUIS
• LOUIS (804–876)
• LOUIS (893–911)
• LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
• LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian

Louis Philippe's See also:

• MINISTER (Lat. minister, servant)

minister, the important proposal to establish a See also:

• CHAIR (in. Mid. Eng. chcere, through O. Fr. chaire or chaiere, from Lat. cathedra, later caledra, Gr. xaOi3pa, seat, cf. "cathedral"; the modern Fr. form chaise, a chair, has been adopted in English with a particular meaning as a form of carriage; chaire

chair of general See also:

• HISTORY

history of the sciences . If there are four chairs, he argued, devoted to the history of philosophy, that is to say, the See also:

• MINUTE
• MINUTE (Lat. minutes, small; minuere, to make less)

minute study of all sorts of dreams and aberrations through the ages, surely there ought to be at least one to explain the formation and progress of our real knowledge ? This wise See also:

• SUGGESTION

suggestion, still unfulfilled, was at first welcomed, according to Comte's own account, by Guizot's philosophic See also:

• INSTINCT

instinct, and then repulsed by his " metaphysical rancour." Meanwhile Comte did his official work conscientiously, sorely as he grudged the time which it took from the See also:

• EXECUTION (from Lat. ex-sequor, exsecutus, follow or carry out)

execution of the great object of his thoughts . " I hardly know if even to you," he writes to his wife, " I dare disclose the sweet and softened feeling that comes over me when I find a young man whose examination is thoroughly satisfactory . Yes, though you may smile, the emotion would easily stir me to tears if I were not carefully on my guard." Such sympathy with youthful See also:

• HOPE, ANTHONY
• HOPE, THOMAS (c. 1770-1831)

hope, in union with See also:

• INDUSTRY (Lat. industria, from indu-, a form of the pre, position in, and either stare, to stand, or struere, to pile up)

industry and intelligence, shows that Comte's dry and austere manner veiled the fires of a generous social emotion . It was this which made him add to his labours the See also:

• BURDEN, or BURTHEN

burden of delivering every year from 1831 to 1848 a course of gratuitous lectures on See also:

• ASTRONOMY (from Gr. &arpov, a star, and v ,usiv, to classify or arrange)

astronomy for a popular See also:

• AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

audience . The social feeling that inspired this disinterested See also:

• ACT (Lat. actus, actum)

act showed itself in other ways . He suffered imprisonment rather than serve in the See also:

• NATIONAL

national guard; his position was that though he would not take arms against the new See also:

• MONARCHY (Fr. monarchic, from Lat. monarchia, Gr. uovapXia, rule of one, µbvos, alone, apXi7, rule)

monarchy of See also:

• JULY

July, yet being a re-publican he would take no See also:

• OATH (0. Eng. ddh)

oath to defend it .

The only amusement that Comte permitted himself was a visit to the See also:

• OPERA (Italian for " work ")

opera . In his youth he had been a playgoer, but he shortly came to the conclusion that tragedy is a See also:

• STILTED

stilted and bombastic art, and after a time See also:

• COMEDY

comedy interested him no more than tragedy . For the opera he had a genuine See also:

• PASSION (post-classical Lat. passio, formed from pati, passus, to suffer, endure)

passion, which he gratified as often as he could, until his means became too narrow to afford even that single relaxation . Of his manner and personal See also:

• APPEARANCE (from Lat. apparere, to appear)

appearance we have the following account from one who was his pupil:—" Daily as the See also:

• CLOCK

clock struck eight on the horologe of the Luxembourg, while the ringing See also:

• HAMMER, FRIEDRICH JULIUS (1810-1862)

hammer on the See also:

• BELL
• BELL, ALEXANDER MELVILLE (1819—1905)
• BELL, ANDREW (1753—1832)
• BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH (1770-1843)
• BELL, HENRY (1767-1830)
• BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD (1803-1874)
• BELL, JACOB (1810-1859)
• BELL, JOHN (1691-178o)
• BELL, JOHN (1763-1820)
• BELL, JOHN (1797-1869)
• BELL, ROBERT (1800-1867)
• BELL, SIR CHARLES (1774—1842)

bell was yet audible, the See also:

• DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door of my See also:

• ROOM

room opened, and there entered a man, short, rather stout, almost what one might See also:

• CALL (from Anglo-Saxon ceallian, a common Teutonic word, cf. Dutch kallen, to talk or chatter)

call sleek, freshly shaven, without vestige of See also:

• WHISKER

whisker or See also:

• MOUSTACHE, or MUSTACHIO

moustache . He was invariably dressed in a suit of the most spotless See also:

• BLACK
• BLACK, ADAM (1784-1874)
• BLACK, JEREMIAH SULLIVAN (1810–1883)
• BLACK, WILLIAM (1841-1898)

black, as if going to a See also:

• DINNER

dinner party;his See also:

• WHITE
• WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
• WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
• WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
• WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
• WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
• WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
• WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
• WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
• WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
• WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
• WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
• WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
• WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)

white See also:

• NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck-See also:

• CLOTH

cloth was fresh from the laundress's hands, and his See also:

• HAT

hat shining like a racer's coat . He advanced to the See also:

• ARM (a common Teutonic word; the Indo-European root is ar, to join or fit; cf. the Lat. armus, shoulder, and the plural word arma, weapons, Gr. apphs, joint, and the reduplicated apapilKSV, to join)

arm-chair prepared for him in the centre of the writing-table, laid his hat on the left-hand corner; his See also:

• SNUFF (from " to snuff, " i.e. to inhale, to draw in through the nose; cf. Dutch snuf, scent, Ger. Schnupfen, a cold, catarrh, and Eng. " snuffle, " " sniff, " &c.)

snuff-See also:

• BOX
• BOX (Gr. irl or, Lat. buxus, box-wood; cf. 2r6Eir, a pyx)

box was deposited on the same See also:

• SIDE
• SIDE (mod. Eski Adalia)

side beside the See also:

• QUIRE (in earlier forms quaer, quaer and quere, from the O. Fr. quaier, modern cahier, a copy-book, manuscript book; Lat. quaterni, set of four, from quattuor)

quire of See also:

• PAPER
• PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

paper placed in readiness for his use, and dipping the See also:

• PEN (Lat. penna, a feather, pen)

pen twice into the See also:

• INK (from Late Lat. encaustum, Gr. gysavorov, the purple ink used by Greek and Roman emperors, from iyKaiew, to burn in)

ink-See also:

• BOTTLE (Fr. bouteille, from a diminutive of the Lat. butta, a flask; cf. Eng. " butt ")

bottle, then bringing it to within an See also:

• INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch of his See also:

• NOSE (O.Eng. nosu, cf. Dutch neus, Swed. nos, snout; the Aix in Provence. Both at Aix and at Lyons he acquired great connexion with O.Eng. nasu is obscure, cf. Ger. Nase, Lat. pares, distinction by his labours during outbreaks of the plague. In nostrils,

nose to make sure it was properly filled, he See also:

• BROKE, or BROOKE, ARTHUR (d. 1563)
• BROKE, SIR PHILIP BOWES VERE, BART

broke silence: ` We have said that the chord AB,' &c . For three-quarters of an See also:

• HOUR

hour he continued his demonstration, making short notes as he went on, to See also:

• GUIDE (in Mid. Eng. gyde, from the Fr. guide; the earlier French form was guie, English " guy," the d was due to the Italian form guida; the ultimate origin is probably Teutonic, the word being connected with the base seen in O. Eng. witan, to know)

guide the listener in repeating the problem alone; then, taking up another cahier which See also:

• LAY

lay beside him, he went over the written repetition of the former See also:

• LESSON (through Fr. lecon from Lat. lectio, reading; legere, to read)

lesson . He explained, corrected or commented till the clock struck nine; then, with the little See also:

• FINGER

finger of the right hand brushing from his coat and waistcoat the shower of superfluous snuff which had fallen on them, he pocketed his snuff-box, and resuming his hat, he as silently as when he came in made his exit by the door which I rushed to open for him." In 1842, as we have said, the last volume of the Positive Philosophy was given to the public . Instead of that contentment which we like to picture as the See also:

• REWARD

reward of twelve Cowie-years of meritorious toil devoted to the erection of a tion of high philosophic edifice, Comte found himself in the " Positive midst of a very See also:

• SEA (in O. Eng. sae, a common Teutonic word; cf. Ger. See, Dutch Zee, &c.; the ultimate source is uncertain)
• SEA, COMMAND OF THE

sea of small troubles, of that uncom- Phll°° pensated See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind that harass without elevating, and sophy." See also:

• WASTE (O. Fr. wast, guast, gast, gaste; Lat. vastus, vast, desolate)

waste a man's spirit without softening or enlarging it . First, the See also:

• JAR

jar of temperament between Comte and his wife had become so unbearable that they separated (1842) . We know too little of the facts to allot blame to either of them . In spite of one or two disadvantageous facts in her career, Madame 'Comte seems to have uniformly comported herself towards her See also:

• HUSBAND

husband with an See also:

• HONOURABLE (Fr. honorable, from Lat. honorabilis, worthy of honour)

honourable solicitude for his well-being .

Comte made her an See also:

• ANNUAL

annual See also:

• ALLOWANCE (from "allow,' derived through 0. Fr. alouer from the two Lat. origins adlaudare, to praise, and allocare, to assign a place; so that the English word combined the general idea of "assigning with approval")

allowance, and for some years after the separation they corresponded on friendly terms . Next in the See also:

• LIST (O.E. lisle, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr. lisle)
• LIST, FRIEDRICH (1789-1846)

list of the vexations was a lawsuit with his publisher . The publisher had inserted in the See also:

• SIXTH

sixth volume a protest against a certain footnote, in which Comte had used some hard words about See also:

• ARAGO, DOMINIQUE FRANCOIS JEAN (1786-1853)

Arago . Comte threw himself into the suit with an See also:

• ENERGY (from the Gr. ivipyela; iv, in, ipyov, work)

energy worthy of See also:

• VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS MARIE AROUET DE (1694–1778)

Voltaire and won it . Third, and worst of all, he had prefixed a See also:

• PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface to the sixth volume, in which he went out of his way to rouse the enmity of the men on whom depended his annual re-See also:

• ELECTION
• ELECTION (from Lat. eligere, to pick out)

election to the See also:

• POST

post of examiner for the See also:

• POLYTECHNIC (Gr. aroWus, many, and rEXvn, an art)

Polytechnic school . The result was that he lost the appointment, and with it one-See also:

• HALF

half of his very modest income . This was the occasion of an episode, which is of more than merely personal See also:

• INTEREST

interest . Before 1842 Comte had been in See also:

• CORRESPONDENCE
• CORRESPONDENCE (from med. scholastic Lat. correspondentia, corrcspondere, compounded of Lat. cum, with, and respond ere, to answer; cf. Fr. correspondance)

correspondence with J . S . See also:

• MILL
• MILL (O. Eng. mylen, later myln, or miln, adapted from the late Lat. molina, cf. Fr. moulin, from Lat. mola, a mill, molere, to grind; from the same root, mol, is derived " meal;" the word appears in other Teutonic languages, cf. Du. molen, Ger. muhle)
• MILL, JAMES (1773-1836)
• MILL, JOHN (c. 1645–1707)
• MILL, JOHN STUART (1806-1873)

Mill, who had been greatly impressed by Comte's philosophic ideas; Mill admits that his own System of See also:

• LOGIC (Xoy1K7, sc. rixvrt, the art of reasoning)

Logic owes many valuable /. s . MII~. thoughts to Comte, and that, in the portion of that work which treats of the logic of the moral sciences, a See also:

• RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)

radical improvement in the conceptions of logical method was derived from the Positive Philosophy . Their correspondence, which was full and copious, turned principally upon the two great questions of the equality between men and See also:

• WOMEN

women, and of the expediency and constitution of a sacerdotal or spiritual See also:

• ORDER
• ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
• ORDER, HOLY

order .

When Comte found himself straitened, he confided the entire circumstances to Mill . As might be supposed by those who know the affectionate anxiety with which Mill regarded the welfare of any one whom he believed to be doing good work in the See also:

• WORLD

world, he at once took pains to have Comte's loss of income made up to him, until Comte should have had time to repair that loss by his own endeavour . Mill persuaded See also:

• GROTE, GEORGE (1794–1871)

Grote, See also:

• MOLESWORTH, MARY LOUISA (1839- )
• MOLESWORTH, ROBERT MOLESWORTH, 1ST VISCOUNT (1656-1725)
• MOLESWORTH, SIR WILLIAM, BART

Molesworth, and See also:

• RAIKES, ROBERT (1735–18,x)

Raikes See also:

• CURRIE, JAMES (1756-1805)
• CURRIE, SIR DONALD (1825-1909)

Currie to advance the sum of £240 . At the end of the year (1845) Comte had taken no steps to enable himself to dispense with the aid of the three Englishmen . Mill applied to them again, but with the exception of Grote, who sent a small sum, they gave Comte'to understand that they expected him to earn his own livir;g . Mill had suggested to Comte that he should write articles for the See also:

• ENGLISH

English See also:

• PERIODICALS

periodicals, and expressed his own willingness to translate any such articles from the French . Comte at first fell in with the plan, but he speedily surprised and disconcerted Mill by boldly taking up the position of " high moral Serious See also:

• SHOCK, or COLLAPSE

shock did not stay his return to See also:

• MENTAL

mental soundness . Illness . Offici workal appeared in 1826 . The sixth and last volume was work . See also:

• MAGISTRATE (Lat. magistratus, from magister, master, properly a public office, hence the person holding such an office)

magistrate," and accusing the three defaulting contributors of a scandalous falling away from righteousness and a high mind . Mill was chilled by these pretensions; and the correspondence came to an end .

There is something to be said for both sides . Comte, regarding himself as the See also:

• PROMOTER

promoter of a great See also:

• SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme for the benefit of humanity, might reasonably look for the support of his See also:

• FRIENDS, SOCIETY
• FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF

friends in the fulfilment of his designs . But Mill and the others were fully justified in not aiding the See also:

• PROPAGATION

propagation of a See also:

• DOCTRINE

doctrine in which they might not wholly concur . Comte's subsequent attitude of censorious condemnation put him entirely in the wrong . From 1845 to 1848 Comte lived as best he could, as well as made his wife her allowance, on an income of £too a year . His little account books of income and outlay, with every See also:

• ITEM (a Latin adverb meaning " also," " likewise ")

item entered down to a few See also:

• HOURS, CANONICAL

hours before his See also:

• DEATH

death, are accurate and neat enough to have satisfied an See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient See also:

• ROMAN

Roman householder . In 1848, through no See also:

• FAULT (Mid. Eng. faute, through the French, from the popular Latin use of fallere, to fail; the originallof the Latin being replaced in English in the 15th century)

fault of his own, his salary was reduced to £80 . See also:

• LITTRE, MAXIMILIEN PAUL SMILE (1801-1881)

Littre and others, with Comte's approval, published an See also:

• APPEAL

appeal for subscriptions, and on the money thus contributed Comte subsisted for the remaining nine years of his life . By 1852 the See also:

• SUBSIDY (through Fr. from Lat. subsidium, reserve troops, aid, assistance, from subsidere, literally " to sit or remain behind or in reserve,")

subsidy produced as much as £20o a year . It is worth noticing that Mill was one of the subscribers, and that Littre continued his assistance after he had been driven from Comte's society by his high pontifical airs . We are sorry not to be able to record any similar trait of magnanimity on Comte's part . His character, admirable as it is for firmness, for intensity, for inexorable will, for See also:

• IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron devotion to what he thought the service of mankind, yet offers few of those softening qualities that make us love good men and pity See also:

• BAD, BCD

bad ones .

It is best to think of him only as the intellectual worker, pursuing in uncomforted obscurity the laborious and absorbing task to which he had given up his whole life . His See also:

• LITERARY

Literary singularly conscientious See also:

• FASHION (adapted from Fr. facon, agon, Lat. factio, making, facere, to do or make)

fashion of elaborating his method . ideas made the mental See also:

• STRAIN (through O. Fr. straindre, estraindre, mod. i treindre, from Lat. stringere, to draw tight, related to stress, stretch, string, &c.)

strain more intense than even so exhausting a work as the abstract exposition of the principles of positive See also:

• SCIENCE (Lat. scientia, from scire; to learn, know)

science need have been . He did not write down a word until he had first composed the whole See also:

• MATTER

matter in his mind . When he had thoroughly meditated every See also:

• SENTENCE (Lat. sententia, a way of thinking, opinion, judgment; vote, sentire, to feel, think)

sentence, he sat down to write, and then, such was the grip of his memory, the exact order of his thoughts came back to him as if without an effort, and he wrote down precisely what he had intended to write, without the aid of a See also:

• NOTE
• NOTE (Lat. nota, mark, sign, from noscere, to know)

note or a memorandum; and without check or pause . For example, he began and completed in about six weeks a See also:

• CHAPTER (a shortened form of chapiter, a word still used in architecture for a capital; derived from O. Fr. chapitre, Lat. capitellum, diminutive of caput, head)

chapter in the Positive Philosophy (vol. v. ch . 55) which would fill See also:

• FORTY

forty pages of this See also:

• ENCYCLOPAEDIA

Encyclopaedia . ' When we reflect that the chapter is not narrative, but an abstract exposition of the guiding principles of the movements of several centuries, with many threads of complex thought running along side by side all through the speculation, then the circumstances under which it was reduced to literary See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form are really astonishing . It is hardly possible, however, to See also:

• SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share the admiration expressed by some of Comte's disciples for his See also:

• STYLE
• STYLE (from Gr. a-6'1ms, a column; a different word from that used in literature, see below)

style . We are not so unreasonable as to blame him for failing to make his pages picturesque or'thrilling; we do not want sunsets and stars and See also:

• ROSES, WARS OF THE

roses and See also:

• ECSTASY (Gr. iarra(TLc, from i LarliU, put out of its place, alter)

ecstasy; but there is a certain See also:

• STANDARD
• STANDARD, BATTLE OF THE

standard for the most serious and abstract subjects . When compared with such philosophic writing as See also:

• HUME, ALEXANDER (c. 1557-1609)
• HUME, DAVID (1711-1776)
• HUME, JOSEPH (1777-1855)

Hume's, See also:

• DIDEROT, DENIS (1713-1784)

Diderot's, See also:

• BERKELEY
• BERKELEY, GEORGE (1685–1753)
• BERKELEY, MILES JOSEPH (1803-1889)
• BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM (c. 1608-1677)

Berkeley's, then Comte's manner is heavy, laboured, monotonous, without See also:

• RELIEF

relief and without See also:

• LIGHT

light . There is now and then an energetic phrase, but as a whole the vocabulary is jejune; the sentences are overloaded; the See also:

• PITCH
• PITCH, MUSICAL

pitch is See also:

• FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat .

A scrupulous insistence on making his meaning clear led to an iteration of certain adjectives and adverbs, whichat length deadened the effect beyond the endurance of all but the most resolute students . Only. the interest of the matter prevents one from thinking of See also:

• RIVAROL, ANTOINE DE (1753-1801)

Rivarol's See also:

• ILL

ill-natured remark upon Condorcet, that he wrote with See also:

• OPIUM (Gr. amov, dim. from Orbs, juice)

opium on a See also:

• PAGE
• PAGE, THOMAS NELSON (1853- )
• PAGE, WILLIAM (1811-1885)

page of See also:

• LEAD
• LEAD (pronounced iced)

lead . The general effect is impressive, not by any virtues of style, for we do not discern one, but by See also:

• REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason of the magnitude and importance of the undertaking, and the visible conscientiousness and the grasp with which it is executed . It is by sheer strength of thought, by the vigorous perspicacity with which he strikes the lines of cleavage of his subject, that he makes hisway into the mind of the reader; in the presence of gifts of this See also:

• POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power we need not See also:

• QUARREL

quarrel with an ungainly style . Comte pursued one practice which ought to be mentioned in connexion with his personal history, the practice of what he style See also:

• HYGIENE (Fr. hygiene, from Gr. ir'taivety, to be healthy)

hygiene cerebrate . After he had acquired what he considered' to be a sufficient stock of material, and =See also:

• RATE

rate. this happened before he had completed the Positive Philosophy, he abstained from See also:

• READING

reading See also:

• NEWSPAPERS

newspapers, reviews, scientific transactions and everything else, except two or three poets (notably See also:

• DANTE

Dante) and the Imitaiio Christi . It is true that his friends kept him informed of what was going on in the scientific world . Still this partial See also:

• DIVORCE

divorce of himself from the record of the social and scientific activity of his time, though it may See also:

• SAVE, or SAVA (Ger. Sau; Hungarian Szdva; Lat. Savus)

save a thinker from the deplorable evils of See also:

• DISPERSION
• DISPERSION (from Lat. dispergere, to scatter)

dispersion, moral and intellectual, accounts in no small measure for the exaggerated See also:

• EGOISM (from Gr. and Lat. ego, I, the 1st personal pronoun)

egoism, and the See also:

• ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of all feeling for reality, which marked Comte's later days . In 1845 Comte made the acquaintance of Madame Clotilde de See also:

• VAUX, CALVERT (1824-1895)

Vaux, a See also:

• LADY (0. Eng. hlaefdige, Mid. Eng. ldfdi, lavedi; the first part of the word is hldf, loaf, bread, as in the corresponding hldford, lord; the second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, to knead, seen also in " dough "; the sense development fr

lady whose husband had been sent to the galleys for life: Very little is 'known about her qualities . She wrote a little piece which Comte rated so pre— re- MadVauamxe . posterously as to talk about See also:

• GEORGE
• GEORGE, 8TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (1787-1876)
• GEORGE, HENRY (1839—1897)
• GEORGE, LAKE
• GEORGE, SAINT (d. 303)

George See also:

• SAND
• SAND, GEORGE (1804-1876)

Sand in the same sentence; it is in truth a flimsy performance, though it contains one or two . gracious thoughts . There is true beauty in the saying—`.` It is unworthy of a See also:

• NOBLE, SIR ANDREW (1832- )

noble nature to diffuse its See also:

• PAIN (from Lat. poena, Gr. robin, penalty, that which must be paid: O. Fr. peine)
• PAIN, BARRY (1867– )

pain." Madame de Vaux's letters speak well for her good sense and good feeling, and it would have been better for Comte's later work if she had survived to exert a wholesome See also:

• RESTRAINT (from " to restrain," Lat. restringere, to hold back, prevent)

restraint on his exaltation: Their friendship had only lasted a year when she died (1846), but the See also:

• PERIOD
• PERIOD (Gr. irepioSos, a going or way round, circuit, aepi, round, and &Sis, way, road)

period was long enough to give her memory a supreme ascendancy in Comte's mind .

See also:

• CONDILLAC, ETIENNE BONNOT DE (1715—178o)

Condillac, See also:

• JOUBERT, BARTHELEMY CATHERINE (1769–1799)
• JOUBERT, JOSEPH (1754–1824)
• JOUBERT, PETRUS JACOBUS (1834–1900)

Joubert, Mill and other eminent men have shown what the intellectual ascendancy of a woman can be . Comte was as inconsolable after Madame de Vaux's. death as D'See also:

• ALEMBERT, JEAN LE ROND

Alembert after the death of Mademoiselle L'Espinasse . Every Wednesday afternoon he_ made a reverential See also:

• PILGRIMAGE (Fr. pelerinage, Lat. peregrinatio)

pilgrimage to her See also:

• TOMB (Gr. Tuµ/3a, Tuµ(3os, probably allied to Lat. tumulus, literally a swelling, tumere, to swell)

tomb, and three times every See also:

• DAY (O. Eng. dreg, Ger. Tag; according to the New English Dictionary, " in no way related to the Lat. dies")
• DAY, JOHN (1574-1640?)
• DAY, THOMAS (1748-1789)

day he invoked her memory in words of passionate expansion . His disciples believe that in time the world will reverence Comte's sentiment about Clotilde de Vaux, as it reveres Dante's See also:

• ADORATION (Lat. ad, to, and os, mouth; i.e. " carrying to one's mouth ")

adoration of See also:

• BEATRICE

Beatrice—a parallel that Comte himself was the first to See also:

• HIT

hit upon . Yet we cannot help feeling that it is a. See also:

• GROTESQUE

grotesque and unseemly See also:

• ANACHRONISM (from ava, back, and xpovor, time)

anachronism to apply in See also:

• GRAVE

grave See also:

• PROSE

prose, addressed to the whole world, those terms of saint and See also:

• ANGEL

angel which are touching and in their See also:

• PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place amid the trouble and passion of the great mystic poet . What-ever other gifts Comte may have had—and he had many of the rarest kind,—poetic See also:

• IMAGINATION

imagination was not among them, any more than poetic or emotional expression was among them . His was one of those natures whose See also:

• FACULTY (through the French, from the Lat. facultas, ability to do anything, from facilis, easy, facere, to do; another form of the word in Lat. facilitas, facility, ease, keeps the original meaning)

faculty of deep feeling is unhappily doomed to be inarticulate, and to pass away without the magic power of transmitting itself . Comte lost no time, after the completion of his Course of Positive Philosophy, in proceeding with the System of Positive Polity, for which the earlier work was designed to be a. See also:

• FOUNDATION (Lat. fundatio, from fundare, to found)

foundation . The first volume was Published in Pos(tive Poltty . 1852, and the See also:

• FOURTH

fourth and last in 1854 . In 1848, when the political See also:

• AIR (from an Indo-European root meaning " breathe," " blow ")
• AIR, or ASBEN

air was charged with stimulating elements, he founded the Positive Society, with the expectation that it might grow into a See also:

• REUNION

reunion as powerful over the new revolution as the Jacobin See also:

• CLUB (connected with " clump ")

Club had been in the revolution of 1788 . The hope was not fulfilled, but a certain number of philosophic disciples gathered See also:

• ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round Comte, and eventually formed them-selves, under the guidance of the new ideas of the latter half of his life, into a kind of See also:

• CHURCH
• CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
• CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
• CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
• CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
• CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)

church, for whose use was See also:

• DRAWN

drawn up the Positivist See also:

• CALENDAR

Calendar (1849), in which the names of those who had advanced See also:

• CIVILIZATION

civilization replaced the titles of the See also:

• SAINTS, BATTLE OF THE

saints .

See also:

• GUTENBERG, JOHANN (c. 1398–1468)

Gutenberg and Shakespeare were among the patrons of the thirteen months in this calendar . In the years 1849, 185o and 1851 Comte gave three courses of lectures at the Palais Royal . They were gratuitous and popular, and in them he boldly advanced the whole of his doctrine, as well as the See also:

• DIRECT

direct and immediate pretensions of himself and his system . The third course ended in the following uncompromising terms—"In the name of the Past and of the Future, the servants of Humanity—both its philosophical and its practical servants—come forward to claim as their due the general direction of this world . Their object is to constitute at length a real See also:

• PROVIDENCE

Providence in all departments,-moral, intellectual and material . Consequently they exclude once for all from political supremacy all the different servants of See also:

• GOD

God—Catholic, See also:

• PROTESTANT

Protestant or Deist—as being at once behind-hand and a cause of disturbance." A few weeks after this invitation, a very different See also:

• PERSON, OFFENCES AGAINST THE

person stepped forward to constitute himself a real Providence . In 1852 Comte published the See also:

• CATECHISM (from Gr. Karnxeiv, teach by word of mouth)

Catechism of See also:

• POSITIVISM (derived from ponere, whence positus, that which is laid down, certain)

Positivism . In the preface to it he took occasion to See also:

• EXPRESS (through the French from the past participle of the Lat. exprimere, to press out, by transference used of representing objects in painting or sculpture, or of thoughts, &c. in words)

express his approval of Louis See also:

• NAPOLEON

Napoleon's coup d'etat of the 2nd of See also:

• DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December,—" a fortunate crisis which has set aside the See also:

• PARLIAMENTARY

parliamentary system and instituted a dictatorial See also:

• REPUBLIC (Lat. respublica, a commonweal or common-wealth)

republic." Whatever we may think of the political sagacity of such a See also:

• JUDGMENT

judgment, it is due to Comte to say that he did not expect to see his dictatorial republic transformed into a dynastic See also:

• EMPIRE

empire, and, next, that he did expect from the Man of December freedom of the See also:

• PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press and of public See also:

• MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

meeting . His later See also:

• HERO (Gr. open)
• HERO, THE YOUNGER

hero was the See also:

• EMPEROR (Fr. empereur, from the Lat. imperator)

emperor See also:

• NICHOLAS
• NICHOLAS (1841– )
• NICHOLAS (or NICLAES), HENRY (or HENDRIK) (c. 1501-C. 158o)
• NICHOLAS, SIR EDWARD (1593-1669)
• NICHOLAS, ST

Nicholas, "the only statesman in Christendom,"—as unlucky a judgment as that which placed Dr See also:

• FRANCIA (c. 1450-1517)
• FRANCIA, JOSE GASPAR RODRIGUEZ (c. 1757-1840)

Francia in the Comtist Calendar . In 1857 he was attacked by See also:

• CANCER (" THE CRAB ")
• CANCER, LUIS (d. 1549)
• CANCER, or CARCINOMA (from Lat. cancer, Gr. KapKivwga, an eating ulcer)

cancer, and died, peaceably on the 5th of See also:

• SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September of that year . The anniversary is celebrated See also:

• HEATH
• HEATH, BENJAMIN (1704-1766)
• HEATH, WILLIAM (1737—1814)

Heath. by ceremonial gatherings of his French and English followers, who then commemorate the name and the services of the founder of their See also:

• RELIGION
• RELIGION, FOLKLORE, CUSTOM

religion . By his will he appointed thirteen executors who were to preserve his rooms at to See also:

• RUE (Fr. rue, Lat. ruta, from Gr. pur)

rue See also:

• MONSIEUR (Fr., formed from men, my, and sieur, lord)

Monsieur-le-Prince as the headquarters of the new religion of Humanity .

In proceeding to give an outline of Comte's system, we shall consider the Positive Polity as the more or less legitimate Comte's sequel of the Positive Philosophy, notwithstanding See also:

• PHILO
• PHILO, HERENNIUS

philo- the deep gulf which so eminent a critic as J . S . Mill sophtc insisted upon fixing between the earlier and the later See also:

• CON

con- work . There may be, as we think there is, the greatest ststency. difference in their value, and the See also:

• TEMPER (from Lat. temperare, to mingle or compound in due proportion, to qualify, rule, regulate, to be moderate, formed from tempos, time, fit or due season)

temper is not the same, nor the method . But the two are quite capable of being regarded, and for the purposes of an account of Comte's career ought to be regarded, as an integral whole . His letters when he was a young man of one-and-twenty, and before he had published a word, show how strongly See also:

• PRESENT

present the social See also:

• MOTIVE (from Lat. movere, to move)

motive- was hi his mind, and in what little account he should hold his scientific works, if he did not perpetually think of their utility for the See also:

• SPECIES

species . " I feel," he wrote, " that such scientific reputation as I might acquire would give more value, more See also:

• WEIGHT

weight, more useful influence to my political sermons." In r822 he published a Plan of the Scientific Works necessary to reorganize Society . Batty In this he points out that modern society is passing writing. through a great crisis, due to the conflict of two oppos- See also:

• ING

ing movements,—the first, a disorganizing See also:

• MOVEMENT

movement owing to the break-up of old institutions and beliefs; the second, a movement towards a definite social See also:

• STATE
• STATE, GREAT OFFICERS OF

state; in which all means of human prosperity will receive their most See also:

• COMPLETE

complete development and most direct application . How is this crisis to be dealt with ? What are the undertakings necessary in order to pass successfully through it towards an organic state ? The See also:

• ANSWER (derived from and, against, and the same root as swear)

answer to this is that there are two See also:

• SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of works . The first is theoretic or spiritual, aiming a.t the development of a new principle of co-ordinating social relations, and the formation of the system of general ideas which are destined to guide society .

The second work is practical or temporal; it settles the See also:

• DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution of power, and the institutions that are most conformable to the spirit of the system which has previously been thought out in the course of the theoretic work . As the practical work depends on the conclusions of the theoretical, the latter must obviously come first in order of execution . In 1826 this was pushed farther in a most remarkable piece called Considerations on the Spiritual Power—the See also:

• MAIN (from the Aryan root which appears in " may " and " might," and Lat. magnus, great)
• MAIN (Lat. Moenus)

main object of which is to demonstrate the See also:

• NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity of instituting a spiritual power, distinct from the temporal power and See also:

• INDEPENDENT

independent of it . In examining the conditions of a spiritual power proper for modern times, he indicates in so many terms the presence in his mind of a direct See also:

• ANALOGY (Gr. avaXo-yLa, proportion)

analogy 'between his proposed spiritual power and the functions of the Catholic See also:

• CLERGY (M.E. clergie, O. Fr. clergie, from Low Lat. form clericia [Skean, by assimilation with O. Fr. clergie, Fr. clerge,from Low Lat. clericatus)
• CLERGY, BENEFIT OF

clergy at the time of its greatest vigour and most complete See also:

• INDEPENDENCE
• INDEPENDENCE, DECLARATION OF
• INDEPENDENCE, WAR OF

independence,—that is to say, from about the See also:

• MIDDLE

middle of the See also:

• FIRTH, CHARLES HARDING (1857– )
• FIRTH, MARK (1819-1880)

firth See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century until towards the end of the 13th . He refers to de See also:

• MAISTRE, JOSEPH DE (1754-1821)
• MAISTRE, XAVIER DE (1763-1852)

Maistre's memorable See also:

• BOOK

book, Du Pape, as the most profound, accurate and methodical account of the old spiritual organization, and starts from that as the See also:

• MODEL (0. Fr. modelle, mod. modele; It. modello, pattern, mould; from Lat. modus, measure, standard)

model to be adapted to the changed intellectual and social conditions of the modern time . In the Positive Philosophy, again (vol. v. p . 344),- he distinctly says that Catholicism, reconstituted as a system on new intellectual See also:

• FOUNDATIONS

foundations, would finally preside over the spiritual reorganization of modern society . Much else could be quoted to the same effect . If unity of career, then, means that Comte, from the beginning designed the institution of a spiritual power, and the systematic reorganization of life, it is difficult to deny him whatever credit that unity may be worth, and the credit is perhaps not particularly great . Even the readaptation of the Catholic system to a scientific doctrine was plainly in his mind thirty years before the final execution of the Positive Polity, though it is difficult to believe that he foresaw the religious See also:

• MYSTICISM (from Or. µuety, to shut the eyes; µuorrts, one initiated into the mysteries)

mysticism in which the task was to land him . A great See also:

• ANALYSIS (Gr. avci and Meta, to break up into parts)

analysis was to precede a great See also:

• SYNTHESIS (Gr. a6vOeacs, from avvrcBivac, to put together)

synthesis, but it was the synthesis on which Comte's See also:

• VISION (from Lat. videre, to see), or SIGHT

vision was centred from the first . Let us first sketch the nature of the analysis .

Society is to be reorganized on the See also:

• BASE

base of knowledge . What is the sum and significance of knowledge ? That is the question which Comte's first master-work professes to answer . The Positive Philosophy opens with the statement of a certain See also:

• LAW
• LAW (0. Eng. lagu, M. Eng. lawe; from an old Teutonic root lag, " lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. lex, Fr. loi)
• LAW, JOHN (1671—1729)
• LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761)

law of which Comte was the discoverer, and which has always been treated both by disciples and dissidents as the See also:

• KEY
• KEY (in O. Eng. tang; the ultimate origin of the word is unknown; it appears only in Old Frisian kei of other Teutonic languages; until the end of the 17th century the pronunciation was kay, as in other words in O. Eng. ending in aeg; cf. daeg, day; clang
• KEY (the phraseograms being indicated by hyphens)
• KEY, SIR ASTLEY COOPER (1821-1888)
• KEY, THOMAS HEWITT (1799-1875)

key to his system . This is the Law of the Three States . Law of the It is as follows . - Each of our leading conceptions, starh,Ye tes . each See also:

• BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of our knowledge, passes successively through three different phases; there are three different ways in which the human mind explains phenomena, each way following the other in order . These three stages are the Theo-logical, the Metaphysical and the Positive . Knowledge, or a branchiof knowledge, is in the Theological state, when it supposes the phenomena under See also:

• CONSIDERATION (from Lat. considerare, to look at closely, examine, generally taken to be from con-, and the base seen in sidus, sideris, a star, the word being supposed to be originally an astrological or astronomical term)

consideration to be due to immediate volition, either in the object or in some supernatural being . In the Metaphysical state, for volition is substituted abstract force residing in the object, yet existing independently of the object; the phenomena are viewed as if apart from the bodies manifesting them; and the properties of each substance have attributed to them an existence distinct from that substance . In the Positive state, inherent volition or See also:

• EXTERNAL

external volition and inherent force or See also:

• ABSTRACTION (Lat. abs and trahere)

abstraction personified have both disappeared from men's minds, and the explanation of a phenomenon means a reference of it, by way of See also:

• SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession or resemblance, to some other phenomenon,-means the See also:

• ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement, late Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

establishment of a relation between the given fact and• some more general fact .

In the Theological and Metaphysical state men seek a cause or an essence; in the Positive they are content with a law . To See also:

• BORROW, GEORGE HENRY (18o3-1881)

borrow an See also:

• ILLUSTRATION

illustration from an able English disciple of Comte:—" Take the phenomenon of the See also:

• SLEEP (0. Eng. slcepan; Ger. schlafen; cf. Lat. labi, to glide, and " slip ")

sleep produced by opium . The See also:

• ARABS

Arabs are content to attribute it to the ` will of God.' Moliere's medical student accounts for it by a soporific principle contained in the opium . The modem physiologist knows that he cannot account for it at all . He can simply observe, analyse and experiment upon the phenomena attending the See also:

• ACTION

action of the See also:

• DRUG
• DRUG (from Fr. drogue, a word common in Romance languages, cf. Span. and Ital. droga; the origin of the word is obscure, but may possibly be connected with Dutch droog, dry)

drug, and classify it with other agents analogous in character."—(Dr See also:

• BRIDGES
• BRIDGES, ROBERT (1844– )

Bridges.) The first and greatest aim of the Positive Philosophy is to advance the study of society into the third of the three stages,—to remove social phenomena from the See also:

• SPHERE (Gr. vclsa?pa, a ball or globe)

sphere of theological and metaphysical conceptions, and to introduce among them the same scientific observation of their laws which has given us physics, See also:

• CHEMISTRY
• CHEMISTRY (formerly "chymistry"; Gr. xvµela; for derivation see ALCHEMY)

chemistry, See also:

• PHYSIOLOGY (from Gr. 4 i s, nature, and koyos, discourse)

physiology . Social physics will consist of the conditions and relations of the facts of society, and will have two departments,—one, statical, containing the laws of order; the other dynamical, containing the laws of progress . While men's minds were in the theological state, political events, for example, were explained by the will of the gods, and political authority based on divine right . In the metaphysical state of mind, then, to retain our instance, political authority was based on the See also:

• SOVEREIGNTY

sovereignty of the people, and social facts were explained by the figment of a falling away from a state of nature . When the positive method has been finally extended to society, as it has been to chemistry and physiology, these social facts will be resolved, as their ultimate analysis, into relations with one another, and instead of seeking causes in the old sense of the word, men will only examine the conditions of social existence . When that See also:

• STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage has been reached, not merely the greater part, but the whole, of our knowledge will be impressed with one character, the character, namely, of positivity or scientificalness; and all our conceptions in every part of knowledge will be thoroughly homogeneous . The gains of such a See also:

• CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change are enormous . The new philosophical unity will now in its turn regenerate all the elements that went to its own formation .

The mind will pursue knowledge without the wasteful jar and See also:

• FRICTION (from Lat. fricare, to rub)

friction of conflicting methods and mutually hostile conceptions; education will be regenerated; and society will reorganize itself on the only possible solid base—a homogeneous philosophy . The Positive Philosophy has another object besides the demonstration of the necessity and propriety of a science of society . This object is to show the sciences as branches ciassilca- from a single See also:

• TRUNK (Fr. tronc, Lat. truncus, cut off, maimed)

trunk,—is to give to science the ensemble tion of scie or spirit or hitherto confined to sciences. generality philosophy, and to give to philosophy the rigour and solidity of science . Comte's See also:

• SPECIAL

special object is.a study of social physics, a science that before his See also:

• ADVENT (Lat. Adventus, sc. Redemptoris, " the coming of the Saviour ")

advent was still to be formed; his second object is a See also:

• REVIEW (Fr. revue, from revoir, to see again, Lat. re and videre)

review of the methods and leading generalities of all the positive sciences already formed, so that we may know both what system of inquiry to follow in our new science, and also where the new science will stand in relation to other knowledge . The first step in this direction is to arrange scientific method and positive knowledge in order, and this brings us to another See also:

• CARDINAL (Lat. cardinalis)

cardinal See also:

• ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element in the Comtist system; the See also:

• CLASSIFICATION (Lat. classis, a class, probably from the root cal-, cla-, as in Gr. icaMce, clamor)

classification of the sciences . In the front of the inquiry lies one main See also:

• DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division, that, namely, between speculative and practical knowledge . With the latter we have no concern . Speculative or theoretic know-ledge is divided into abstract and See also:

• CONCRETE
• CONCRETE (Lat. concretes, participle of concrescere, to grow together)

concrete . The former is concerned with the laws that regulate phenomena in all conceivable cases: the latter is concerned with the application of these laws . Concrete science relates to See also:

• OBJECTS

objects or beings; abstract science to events . The former is particular or descriptive; the latter is general . Thus, physiology is an abstract science; but See also:

• ZOOLOGY (from Gr. Nov, a living thing, and ?byos, theory)

zoology is concrete .

Chemistry is abstract; See also:

• MINERALOGY

mineralogy is concrete . It is the method and knowledge of the abstract sciences that the Positive Philosophy has to reorganize in a great whole . Comte's principle of classification is that the dependence and order of scientific study follows the dependence of thephenomena . Thus, as has been said, it represents both the See also:

• OBJECTIVE, or OBJECT GLASS

objective dependence of the phenomena and the subjective dependence of our means of knowing them . The more particular and complex phenomena depend upon the simpler and more general . The latter are the more easy to study . Therefore science will begin with those attributes of objects which are most general, and pass on gradually to other attributes that are combined in greater complexity . Thus, too, each science rests on the truths of the sciences that precede it, while it adds to them the truths by which it is itself constituted . Comte's series or See also:

• HIERARCHY (Gr. iepos, holy, and apxe.v, to rule)

hierarchy is arranged as follows:—(r) Mathematics (that is, number, See also:

• GEOMETRY

geometry, and See also:

• MECHANICS

mechanics), (2) Astronomy, (3) Physics, (4) Chemistry, (g) See also:

• BIOLOGY (Gr. Qios, life)

Biology, (6) See also:

• SOCIOLOGY

Sociology . Each of the members of this series is one degree more special than the member before it, and depends upon the facts of all the members preceding it, and cannot he fully understood without them . It follows that the crowning science of the hierarchy, dealing with the phenomena of human society, will remain longest under the influence of theological dogmas and abstract figments, and will be the last to pass into the positive stage . You cannot discover the relations of the facts of human societywithout reference to the conditions of See also:

• ANIMAL
• ANIMAL (Lat. animalis, from anima, breath, soul)

animal life; you cannot understand the conditions of animal life without the laws of chemistry; and so with the rest .

This arrangement of the sciences, and the Law of the Three States, are together explanatory of the course of human thought and knowledge . They are thus the See also:

• DOUBLE
• DOUBLE (from the Mid. Eng. duble, the form which gives the present pronunciation, through the Old Er. duble, from Lat. duplus, twice as much)

double key of The double Comte's systematization of the philosophy of all the key of sciences from mathematics to physiology, and his positive analysis of social See also:

• EVOLUTION

evolution, which is the base of philosociology . Each science contributes its philosophy. soppy . The co-ordination of all these partial philosophies produces the general Positive Philosophy . " Thousands had cultivated science, and with splendid success; not one had conceived the philosophy which the sciences when organized would naturally evolve . A few had seen the necessity of extending the scientific method to all inquiries, but no one had seen how this was to be effected . . . The Positive Philosophy is novel as a philosophy, not as a collection of truths never before suspected . Its novelty is the -organization of existing elements . Its very principle implies the absorption of all that great thinkers had achieved; while incorporating their results it extended their methods.: . What tradition brought was the results; what Comte brought was the organization of these results . He always claimed to be the founder of the Positive Philosophy .

That he had every right to such a See also:

• TITLE (0. Fr. title, mod. titre, from Lat. titulus)

title is demonstrable to all who distinguish between the positive sciences and the philosophy which co-ordinated the truths and methods of these sciences into a doctrine."--G . H . See also:

• LEWES
• LEWES, CHARLES LEE (1740–1803)

Lewes . Comte's classification of the sciences has been subjected to a vigorous See also:

• CRITICISM
• CRITICISM (from the Gr. KpiTrlS, a judge, Kpivew, to decide, to give an authoritative opinion)

criticism by See also:

• HERBERT (FAMILY)
• HERBERT, GEORGE (1593-1633)
• HERBERT, HENRY WILLIAM
• HERBERT, SIR THOMAS (1606-1682)

Herbert See also:

• SPENCER
• SPENCER, HERBERT (1820-1903)
• SPENCER, JOHN CHARLES SPENCER, 3RD EARL (1782-1845)
• SPENCER, JOHNPOYNTZ SPENCER
• SPENCER, WILLIAM ROBERT (1769-1834)

Spencer . Spencer's two See also:

• CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief points are these:--(r) He denies that the principle of criticism the development of the sciences is the principle of on Comte's decreasing generality; he asserts that there are as classiecsmany examples of the advent of a science being aon. determined by increasing generality as by increasing speciality . (2) He holds that any grouping of the sciences in a succession gives a radically wrong idea of their See also:

• GENESIS
• GENESIS (Gr. 'ybeo-es, becoming; the term being used in English as a synonym for origin or process of coming into being)

genesis and their inter-dependence; no true filiation exists; no science develops itself in See also:

• ISOLATION

isolation; no one is independent, either logically or historically . Littre, by far the most eminent of the scientific followers of Comte, concedes a certain force to Spencer's objections, and makes certain secondary modifications in the hierarchy in consequence, while still cherishing his faith in the Comtist theory of the sciences. j . S . Mill, while admitting the objections as good, if Comte's arrangement pretended to be the only one possible, still holds the arrangement as tenable for the purpose with which it was devised . G . H . Lewes asserts against Spencer that the arrangement in a series is necessary, on grounds similar to those which require that the various truths constituting a science should be systematically co-ordinated although in nature the phenomena are intermingled .

The first three volumes of the Positive Philosophy contain an exposition of the partial philosophies of the five sciences that precede sociology in the hierarchy . Their value has usually been placed very See also:

• LOW, SETH (1850- )
• LOW, WILL HICOK (1853- )

low by the special followers of the sciences concerned; they say that the knowledge is second-hand, is not coherent, and is too confidently taken for final . The Comtist replies that the task is philosophic; and is not to be judged by the minute accuracies of science . In these three volumes Comte took the sciences roughly as he found them . His eminence as a man of science must be measured by his only original work in that See also:

• DEPARTMENT (Fr. departement, from departir, to separate into parts)

department, the construction, namely, of the new science of society . This work is accomplished in the last three volumes of the Positive Philosophy, and the second and third volumes of the Positive Polity . The Comtist maintains that even if these five volumes together fail in laying down correctly and finally the lines of the new science, still they are the first See also:

• SOLUTION (from Lat. solvere, to loosen, dissolve)

solution of a great problem hitherto unattempted . " Modern biology has got beyond Aristotle's conception; but in the construction of the biological science, not even the most unphilosophical biologist would fail to recognize the value of Aristotle's attempt . So for sociology . Subsequent sociologists may have conceivably to remodel the whole science, yet not the less will they recognize the merit of the first work which has facilitated their labours."—See also:

• CONGREVE, RICHARD (1818-1899)
• CONGREVE, SIR WILLIAM
• CONGREVE, WILLIAM (167o-1729)

Congreve . We shall now briefly describe Comte's See also:

• PRINCIPAL

principal conceptions in sociology, his position in respect to which is held by himself, and by Soda- others, to raise him to the level of See also:

• DESCARTES, RENE (1596-1650)

Descartes or See also:

• LEIBNITZ (LEIBNIZ), GOTTFRIED WILHELM

Leibnitz . logical Of course the first step was to approach the phenomena comp- of human character and social existence with the dons. expectation of finding them as reducible to general laws as the other phenomena of the universe, and with the hope of exploring these laws by the same See also:

• INSTRUMENTS

instruments of observation and verification as had done such triumphant work in the See also:

• CASE
• CASE, JOHN (d. 1600)

case of the latter .

Comte separates the collective facts of society and history from the individual phenomena of biology; then he withdraws these collective facts from the region of external volition, and places them in the region of law . The facts of history. must be explained, not by providential interventions, but by referring them to conditions inherent in the successive stages of social existence . This conception makes a science of society possible . What is the method ? It comprises, besides observation and experiment (which is, in-fact, onlytheobservation of abnormal social states), a certain peculiarity of verification . We begin by deducing. every well-known See also:

• HISTORICAL

historical situation from the series of its antecedents . Thus we acquire a bodyof.empirical generalizations as to social phenomena, and then we connect the generalizations with the positive theory of human nature . A sociological demonstration lies in the establishment of an accordance between the conclusions of historical analysis and the preparatory conceptions of biological theory . As Mill puts it:—" If a sociological theory, collected from historical See also:

• EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence, contradicts the established general laws of human nature; if (to use M . Comte's instances) it implies, in the See also:

• MASS (O.E. maesse; Fr. messe; Ger. Messe; Ital. messa; from eccl. Lat. missa)
• MASS, IN

mass of mankind, any very decided natural See also:

• BENT
• BENT (E1. BENI)
• BENT, JAMES THEODORE (1852–1897)

bent, either in a good or in a bad direction; if it supposes that the reason, in See also:

• AVERAGE

average human beings, pre-dominates over the desires, or the disinterested desires over the personal,—we may know that history has been misinterpreted, and that the theory is false . On the other hand, if laws of social phenomena, empirically generalized from history, can, when once suggested, be affiliated to the known laws of human nature; if the direction actually taken by the developments and changes, of human society, can be seen to be such as the properties of man and of his dwelling-place made antecedently probable,. the empirical generalizations are raised into positive laws, and sociology becomes a science." The result of this method, is an See also:

• EXHIBITION

exhibition of the events of human experience in co-ordinated series that See also:

• MANIFEST (Lat. manifestus, clear, open to view)

manifest their own graduated connexion . Next, as all investigation proceeds from that which is known best to that which is unknown or less well-known, and as, in social states, it is the collective phenomenon that is more easy of See also:

• ACCESS (Lat. accessus)

access to the observer than its parts, therefore we. must consider and pursue all the elements of a given social state together and in See also:

• COMMON

common .

The social organization must be viewed and explored as a whole . There is a nexus between each leading See also:

• GROUP

group of social phenomena and other leading See also:

• GROUPS
• GROUPS, THEORY

groups; if there is a change in one of them, that change is accompanied by a corresponding modification of all the rest . 'Not only must political institutions and social See also:

• MANNERS, CHARLES (1857– )

manners, on the one hand, and manners and ideas, on the other, be always mutually connected; but further, this consolidated whole must be always connected by, its nature with the corresponding state of the integral development of humanity, considered in all its aspects of intellectual, moral and See also:

• PHYSICAL

physical activity."—Comte . Is there any one element which communicates the decisive impulse to all the rest,—any predominating agency in the course Decisive of social evolution ? The answer is that all the other import- parts of social existence are associated with, and ance of drawn along by, the contemporary See also:

• CONDITION (Lat. condicio, from condicere, to agree upon, arrange; not connected with conditio, from condere, conditum, to put together)

condition of inteilec- intellectual development . The Reason is the superior See also:

• TEAL (O.E. tele)

teal - velop ment. and preponderant element which settles the direction elop in which all the other faculties shall expand . "It is only through the more and more marked influence of the reason over the general conduct of man and of society, that the gradualmarch of our See also:

• RACE

race has attained that regularity and persevering continuity which distinguish it so. radically from the desultory and barren expansion of even the highest animal orders, which share, and with enhanced strength, the appetites, the passions, and even the See also:

• PRIMARY

primary sentiments of man." The history of intellectual development, therefore, is the key to social evolution, and the key to the history of intellectual development is the Law of the Three States . Among other central thoughts in Comte's explanation of history are these:—The displacement of theological by positive conceptions has been accompanied by a See also:

• GRADUAL (Med. Lat. gradualis, of or belonging to steps or degrees; gradus, step)

gradual rise of an See also:

• INDUSTRIAL

industrial regime out of the military regime;—the great permanent contribution of Catholicism was the separation which it set up between the temporal and the spiritual See also:

• POWERS, HIRAM (1805-1873)

powers;—the progress of the race consists in the increasing preponderance of the distinctively human elements over the animal elements;—the See also:

• ABSOLUTE (Lat. absolvere, to loose, set free)

absolute tendency of See also:

• ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary social theories will be replaced by an unfailing adherence to the relative point of view, and from this it-follows-that the social state, regarded as a whole, has been as perfect in each period. as the co-existing condition of humanity and its environment would allow . The elaboration of these ideas in relation to the history of the civilization of ' the most advanced portion of the human race occupies two of the volumes of the Positive Philosophy, and has been accepted by very different schools as a masterpiece of See also:

• RICH, BARNABE (c. 1540-1617)
• RICH, CLAUDIUS JAMES (1787-1821)
• RICH, JOHN (1692-1761)
• RICH, PENELOPE, LADY (c. 1562–1607)
• RICH, RICHARD, 1ST BARON RICH (1490?-1567)

rich, luminous, and far-reaching suggestion . Whatever additions it may receive,, and. whatever corrections it may require, this analysis of social evolution will continue to be regarded as one of the great achievements of human See also:

• INTELLECT (Lat. intellectus, from intelligere, to understand)

intellect . The third volume of the Positive Polity treats of social See also:

• DYNAMICS
• DYNAMICS (from Gr. bbvayts, strength)

dynamics, and takes us again over the ground of historic evolution, - It abounds with remarks of extraordinary social fertility and comprehensiveness; but it is often dynamics arbitrary.; and its views of the past are strained into in the coherence with the statical views. of the preceding Positive volume . As it was composed in rather less than six months, and as the author honestly warns us that he has given all.. his, See also:

• ATTENTION (from Lat. ad-tendo, await, expect; the condition of being " stretched " or " tense ")

attention to a more profound co-ordination, instead of working out the special explanations more fully, as he had promised, we need not be surprised if the result is disappointing to those who. had mastered the corresponding portion of the Positive Philosophy .

Comte explains the difference between his two'works . In the first his "chief object was to discover and demonstrate the laws of progress, and to exhibit in one unbroken sequence the collective destinies of mankind, till then invariably regarded as a series of events wholly beyond the reach of ex-planation, and almost depending on arbitrary will . The present work, on the contrary, is addressed to those who are already sufficiently convinced of the certain existence of social laws, and See also:

• DESIRE

desire only to have them reduced to a true and conclusive system." The main principles of the Comtian system are derived from the Positive Polity and, from two other works,—the Positivist Catechism a See also:

• SUMMARY

Summary Exposition - of the Universal Religion, in Twelve Dialogues between a Woman and a Posit See also:

• ROE (or Row), SIR THOMAS (c. 1581—1644)
• ROE, EDWARD PAYSON (1838-1888)

roe ivist See also:

• PRIEST (Ger. Priester, Fr. pretre)

Priest of , Humanity; and, second, The Subjective system . Synthesis (1856), which is the first and only volume of a work upon mathematics announced at the end of the Positive Philosophy . The system for which the Positive Philosophy is alleged to have been the scientific preparation contains a Polity and a Religion; a complete arrangement of life in all its aspects, giving a wider sphere to Intellect, Energy and Feeling than could be found in any of the previous organic types,--See also:

• GREEK
• GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

Greek, Roman or Catholic-feudal . Comte's immense superiority over such prae-Revolutionary utopians as the See also:

• ABBE (Serbo-Croatian Rai))

Abbe Saint See also:

• PIERRE

Pierre, no less than over the group of post-revolutionary utopians, is especially visible in this See also:

• FIRM

firm grasp of the cardinal truth that the improvement of the social organism can only be effected by a moral development, and never by any changes in See also:

• MERE
• MERE, ADALBERT (1838-1909)

mere political mechanism, or any violences in the way of an artificial redistribution of See also:

• WEALTH

wealth . A moral transformation must precede any real advance . The aim, both in public and private life, is to Method . re/lg~ a. becomes substantially an See also:

• ARCH
• ARCH, JOSEPH (1826– )

arch of utilitarian proposi- tions, with an artificial Great Being inserted at the See also:

• TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top to keep them is their place . The Comtist system is See also:

• UTILITARIANISM (Lat. utilis, useful)

utilitarianism crowned by a fantastic decoration . Translated into the plainest English, the position is as follows: " Society can only be re-generated by the greater subordination of politics to morals, by the moralization of See also:

• CAPITAL (i.e. capital stock or fund)
• CAPITAL (Lat. caput, head)

capital, by the renovation of the family, by a higher conception of marriage and so on . These ends can only be reached by a heartier development of the sympathetic instincts .

The sympathetic instincts can only be See also:

• DEVELOPED

developed by the Religion of Humanity." Looking at the problem in this way, even a moralist who does not expect See also:

• THEOLOGY

theology to be the See also:

• INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

instrument of social revival, might still ask whether the sympathetic instincts will not necessarily be already developed to their highest point, before people will be persuaded to accept the religion, which is at the bottom hardly more than sympathy under a more imposing name . However that may be, the whole See also:

• BATTLE

battle—into which we shall not enter—as to the legitimateness of Comtism as a religion turns upon this erection of Humanity into a Being . The various hypotheses, dogmas, proposals, as to the family, to capital, &c., are merely propositions measurable by considerations of utility and a See also:

• BALANCE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. bilantia, an apparatus for weighing, from bi, two, and lanx, a dish or scale)

balance of expediencies . Many of these proposals are of the highest interest, and many of them are actually available; but there does not seem to be one of them of an available kind, which could not equally well be approached from other sides, and even incorporated in some radically antagonistic system . See also:

• ADOPTION (Lat. adoptio, for adoptalio, from adoptare, to choose for oneself)

Adoption, for example, as a practice for improving the happiness of families and the welfare of society, is capable of being weighed, and can in truth only be weighed, by utilitarian considerations, and has been commended ' For Comte's place in the history of ethical theory see ETiitcs.by men to whom the Comtist religion is naught . The singularity of Comte's construction, and the test by which it must be tried, is the See also:

• TRANSFER (from Lat. transferre, to bear across, carry over)

transfer of the See also:

• WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

worship and discipline of Catholicism to a system in which " the conception of God is superseded " by the abstract idea of Humanity, conceived as a kind of See also:

• PERSONALITY (from Lat. persona, originally an actor's mask, from personare,1 to sound through)

Personality . And when all is said, the invention does not help us . We have still to See also:

• SETTLE
• SETTLE, ELKANAH (1648–1724)

settle what is for the good of Humanity, and we can only do that in the old-fashioned way . There is no guidance in the conception . No effective unity can follow from it, because you can only find out the right and wrong of a given course by summing up the advantages and disadvantages, and striking a balance, and there is nothing in the Religion of Humanity to force two men to find the balance onthesame side . The Comtists are no better off than other utilitarians in judging policy, events, conduct . The particularities of the worship, its minute and truly ingenious re-adaptations of sacraments, prayers, reverent signs, down even to the invocation of a New Trinity, need not detain us .

They are said, though it is not easy to The :,°d' believe, to have been elaborated by way of See also:

• UTOPIA

Utopia. See also:

• SHIP

ship See also:

• ZONE (Gr. 'WV77, a girdle, from 'wvvLvay to gird)

Zone . If so, no Utopia has ever yet been presented in a style so little calculated to stir the imagination, to warm the feelings, to soothe the insurgency of the reason . It is a See also:

• MISTAKE (i.e. take amiss)

mistake to present a great See also:

• BODY

body of hypotheses—if Comte meant them for hypotheses —in the most dogmatic and See also:

• PEREMPTORY

peremptory form to which See also:

• LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language can lend itself . And there is no more extraordinary thing in the history of See also:

• OPINION (Lat. opinio, from opinari, to think)

opinion than the perversity with which Comte has succeeded in clothing a philosophic doctrine, so intrinsically conciliatory as his, in a shape that excites so little sympathy and gives so much provocation . An enemy defined Comtism as Catholicism minus See also:

• CHRISTIANITY

Christianity, to which an able See also:

• CHAMPION (Fr. champion, Late Lat. campio from campus; a field or open space, i.e. one " who takes the field " or fights; cf. Ger. Kampf, battle, and Kampfer, fighter)

champion retorted by calling it Catholicism plus Science . Comte's Utopia has pleased the followers of the Catholic, just as little as those of the scientific, spirit . The elaborate and minute systematization of life, proper to the religion of Humanity, is to be directed by a priesthood . The priests are to possess neither wealth nor material power; they The priest-are not to command, but to counsel; their authority is to boo‘j rest on persuasion, not on force . When religion has be- come positive, and society industrial, then the influence of the church upon the state becomes really freeandindependent, which was not the case in the middle ages . The power of the priesthood rests upon special knowledge of man and nature; but to this intellectual eminence must also be added moral power and a certain greatness of character, without which force of intellect and completeness of attainment will not receive the confidence they ought to inspire . The functions of the priesthood are of this kind:—To exercise a systematic direction over education; to hold a consultative influence over all the important acts of actual life, public and private; to arbitrate in cases of practical conflict; to preach sermons recalling those principles of generality and universal See also:

• HARMONY (Gr. dpµovia, a concord of musical sounds, dpA'ew to join; &plan midi (sc. TeXvil)

harmony which our special activities dispose us to ignore; to order the due classification of society; to perform the various ceremonies appointed by the founder of the religion . The authority of the priesthood is to rest wholly on voluntary See also:

• ADHESION (from Lat. adhaerere, to adhere)

adhesion, and there is to be perfect freedom of speech and discussion .

This See also:

• PROVISION (Lat. provisio)

provision hardly consists with Comte's congratulations to the See also:

• TSAR, or CZAR

tsar Nicholas on the " wise vigilance " with which he kept See also:

• WATCH (in O. Eng. wcecce, a keeping guard or watching, from wacian, to guard, watch, wacan, to wake)

watch over the importation of Western books . From his earliest manhood Comte had been powerfully impressed by the necessity of elevating the condition of women . (See remarkable passage in his letters to M . Valat, pp . Women . 84-87.) His friendship with Madame de Vaux had deepened the impression, and in the reconstructed society women are to See also:

• PLAY

play a highly important part . They are to be carefully excluded from public action, but they are to do many more important things than things political . To See also:

• FIT

fit them for their functions, they are to be raised above material cares, and they are to be thoroughly educated . The family, which is so important an element of the Comtist scheme of things, exists to carry the influence of woman over man to the highest point of cultivation . Through See also:

• AFFECTION (Lat. ad, and facere, to do something to, sc. a person)

affection she purifies the activity of ugton of the universe . The characteristic basis of a religion humanity . is the existence of a Power without us, so superior to ourselves as to command the complete submission of our whole life .

This basis is to be found in the Positive stage, in Humanity, past, present and to come, conceived as the Great Being . " A deeper study of the great universal order reveals to us at length the ruling power within it of the true Great Being, whose destiny it is to bring that order continually to perfection by constantly conforming to its laws, and which thus best represents to us that system as a whole . This undeniable Providence, the supreme dispenser of our destinies, becomes in the natural course the common centre of our affections, our thoughts, and our actions . Although this Great Being evidently exceeds the utmost strength of any, even of any collective, human force, its necessary constitution and its See also:

• PECULIAR

peculiar See also:

• FUNCTION

function endow it with the truest sympathy towards all its servants . The least amongst us can and ought constantly to aspire to maintain and even to improve this Being . This natural object of all our activity, both public and private, determines the true general character of the rest of our existence, whether in feeling or in thought ; which must be devoted to love, and to know, in order rightly to serve, our Providence, by a wise use of all the means which it furnishes to us . Reciprocally this continued service, whilst strengthening our true unity, renders us at once both happier and better." The exaltation of Humanity into the See also:

• THRONE

throne occupied by the Supreme Being under monotheistic systems made all the rest of Comte's construction easy enough . Utility remains Remarks the test of every institution, impulse, act; his fabric secure to the utmost possible extent the victory of the social feeling over self-love, or See also:

• ALTRUISM (Fr. autrui, from Lat. alter, the other of two)

Altruism over Egoism.' This is the key to the regeneration of social existence, as it is the key to that unity of individual life which makes all our energies converge freely and without wasteful friction towards a common end . What are the instruments for securing the preponderance of Altruism ? Clearly they must work from the strongest element in human nature, and this element is Feeling or the See also:

• HEART
• HEART, LUNG

Heart . Under the Catholic system the supremacy of Feeling was abused, and the Intellect was made its slave . Then followed a revolt of Intellect against Sentiment .

The business of the new system will be to bring back the Intellect into a condition, not of See also:

• SLAVERY

slavery, but of willing See also:

• MINISTRY

ministry to the Feelings . The subordination never was, and never will be, effected except by means of a religion, and a religion, to be final, must include a harmonious The Re- synthesis of all our conceptions of the external order of Conchs- an encyclopaedic system, that touches life, society shin . and knowledge at every point, is evidently beyond the See also:

• COMPASS (Fr. corn pas, ultimately from Lat. cum, with, and passus, step)

compass of such an article as this . There is in every chapter a whole group of speculative suggestions, each of which would need a long chapter to itself to elaborate or to discuss . There is at least one biological speculation of astounding audacity, that could be examined in nothing less than a See also:

• TREATISE

treatise . Perhaps we have said enough to show that after performing a great and real service to thought Comte almost sacrificed his claims to gratitude by the invention of a system that, as such, and in-dependently of detached suggestions, is markedly See also:

• RETROGRADE (from the Lat. retro, backwards, gradiri, to go)

retrograde . But the world will take what is available in Comte, while for-getting that in his work which is as irrational in one way as See also:

• HEGEL, GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH (1770-1831)

Hegel is in another . See also the article POSITIVISM . Criticism.—J . S . Mill, Auguste Comte and Positivism; J . H .

Bridges' reply to Mill, The Unity of Comte's Life and Doctrines (1866) ; Herbert Spencer's See also:

• ESSAY, ESSAYIST (Fr. essai, Late Lat. exagium, a weighing or balance; exigere, to examine; the term in general meaning any trial or effort)

essay on the Genesis of Science and pamphlet on The Classification of the Sciences; See also:

• HUXLEY, THOMAS HENRY (1825–1895)

Huxley's " Scientific Aspects of Positivism," in his Lay Sermons; R . Congreve, Essays Political, Social and Religious (1874); J . See also:

• FISKE, JOHN (1842-1901)
• FISKE, MINNIE MADDERN (1865– )

Fiske, Outlines of See also:

• COSMIC (from Gr. Kovµos, order or universe)

Cosmic Philosophy (1874) ; G . H . Lewes, History of Philosophy, vol. ii.; See also:

• EDWARD

Edward See also:

• CAIRD, EDWARD (1835-1908)
• CAIRD, JOHN (182o–1898)

Caird, The Social Philosophy and Religion of Comte (See also:

• GLASGOW

Glasgow, 1885) : See also:

• HERMANN, JOHANN GOTTFRIED JAKOB (1772–1848)
• HERMANN, KARL FRIEDRICH (1804–1855)

Hermann See also:

• GRUBER, JOHANN GOTTFRIED (1774-1851)

Gruber, Aug . Comte der Begrunder See also:

• DES

des Positivismus . Sean Leben and seine Lehre (See also:

• FREIBURG

Freiburg, 1889) and Der Positivismus vom Tode Aug . Comtes bis auf unsere Tage, 1857–18gr (Freib . 1891); L . See also:

• LEVY (Fr. levee, from lever, Lat. levare, to lift, raise)
• LEVY, AMY (1861–1889)
• LEVY, AUGUSTE MICHEL (1844– )

Levy-Bruhi, La Philosophic d'Aug . Comte (Paris, 1900) ; H . D .

See also:

• HUTTON, CHARLES (1737-1823)
• HUTTON, JAMES (1726-1797)
• HUTTON, RICHARD HOLT (1826-1897)

Hutton, Comte's Theory of Man's Future (1877), Comte, the Man and the Founder (1891), Comte's Life and Work (1892); E. de Roberty, Aug . Comte et Herbert Spencer (Paris, 1894) ; J . See also:

• WATSON, RICHARD (1737-1816)
• WATSON, THOMAS (c. 1557–1592)
• WATSON, WILLIAM (1858- )
• WATSON, WILLIAM (c. 1559-1603)

Watson, Comte, Mill and Spencer . An outline of Philos . (1895 and 1899); See also:

• MILLET (Fr. millet; Ital. miglietto, diminutive of miglio= Lat. mille, a thousand, in allusion to its fertility)
• MILLET (or MILE), JEAN FRANCOIS (c. 1642–1679)
• MILLET, FRANCIS DAVIS (1846- )
• MILLET, JEAN FRANCOIS (1814–1875)

Millet, La Souverainete d'apres Aug . Comte (1905) ; L. de See also:

• MONTESQUIEU, CHARLES LOUIS DE SECONDAT, BARON DE LA BREDE ET DE (1689-1755)

Montesquieu Fezensac, Le Systeme politique d'Aug . Comte (1907) ; G . See also:

• DUMAS, ALEXANDRE
• DUMAS, ALEXANDRE [" DUMAS FILS"] (1824-1895)
• DUMAS, GUILLAUME MATHIEU, COUNT (1753-1837)
• DUMAS, JEAN BAPTISTE ANDRE (1800-1884)

Dumas, Psychologie de deux Messies positivistes (1905) . (J .