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characteristic advance from the most general to more and more special
researches, and finally the more frequent and important use of a priori
considerations through suggestions furnished by the anterior sciences,
and especially by the biological theory of human nature, may authorize
the highest hopes of the speculative dignity of the science,—higher hopes
than can be excited by such an imperfect realization as I propose to
sketch out, the purpose of which is to embody, in a direct manner, and
by sensible manifestations, the more abstract view which I have now
taken of the general nature of this new political philosophy, and of the
scientific spirit which should regulate its ulterior construction.
Chapter V
Social Statics; or, Theory of The Spontaneous
Order of Human Society
Though the dynamical part of Social Science is the most interesting, the
most easily intelligible, and the fittest to disclose the laws of intercon-
nection, still the Statical part must not he entirely passed over. We must
briefly review in this place the conditions and laws of harmony of hu-
man society, and complete our statical conceptions, as far as the nascent
state of the science allows when we afterwards survey the historical
development of humanity.
Every sociological analysis supposes three classes of considerations,
each more complex than the preceding: viz., the conditions of social
existence of the individual, the family, and society; the last comprehend-
ing, in a scientific sense, the whole of the human species, and chiefly,
the whole of the white race.
Gall’s cerebral theory has destroyed for ever the metaphysical fan-
cies of the last century about the origin of Man’s social tendencies,
which are now proved to be inherent in his nature, and not the result of
utilitarian considerations. The true theory has exploded the mistakes
through which the false doctrine arose,—the fanciful supposition that
230/Auguste Comte
intellectual combinations govern the general conduct of human life, and
the exaggerated notion of the degree in which wants can create facul-
ties. Independently of the guidance afforded by Gall’s theory, there is a
conclusive evidence against the utilitarian origin of society in the fact
that the utility did not, and could not, manifest itself till after a long
preparatory development of the society which it was supposed to have
created. We shall the better see how the supposition involves us in a
vicious circle if we attend to the character of the early ages of humanity,
in which the individual advantages of association are very doubtful, if
indeed we may not safely say that, in many cases, the burdens are greater
than the resources, as we see only too plainly in the lowest ranks of the
most advanced societies. It is thus evident that the social state would
never have existed if its rise had depended on a conviction of its indi-
vidual utility, because the benefit could never have been anticipated by
individuals of any degree of ability, but could only manifest itself after
the social evolution had proceeded up to a certain point. There are even
sophists who at this day deny the utility, without being pronounced mad;
and the spontaneous sociability of human nature, independent of all
personal calculation, and often in opposition to the strongest individual
interests, is admitted, as of course, by those who have paid no great
attention to the true biological theory of our intellectual and moral na-
ture.
Passing over some elementary considerations which belong rather
to a special treatise on the physiological conditions,—such as the natu-
ral nakedness of the human being, and his helpless and protracted in-
fancy,—which have been much exaggerated as social influences, since
they exist in some animal races without producing the same social con-
sequences,—I proceed to estimate the influence of the most important
attributes of our nature in giving to society the fundamental character
which belongs to it, and which remains permanent through all degrees
of its development. In this view, the first consideration is of the prepon-
derance of the affective over the intellectual faculties, which though less
remarkable in Man than in other animals, yet fixes the first essential
idea of our true nature.—Though continuous action is, in all cases, an
indispensable condition of success, Man, like every other animal, has a
natural dislike to such perseverance, and at first finds pleasure only in a
varied exercise of his activity,—the variety being of more importance to
him than moderation in degree,—especially in the commonest cases, in
which no strongly marked instinct is concerned. The intellectual facul-
Positive Philosophy/231
ties being naturally the least energetic, their activity, if ever so little
protracted beyond a certain degree, occasions in most men a fatigue
which soon becomes utterly insupportable; and it is in regard to them
chiefly that men of all ages of civilization relish that state of which the
dolce far niente is the most perfect expression. Nevertheless, it is on the
persevering use of these high faculties that the modifications of human
life, general and individual depend, during the course of our social de-
velopment, so that we are met at once by the melancholy coincidence
that Man is most in need of precisely the kind of activity for which he is
the least fit. His physical imperfections and moral necessities compel
him, more than any other animal, to employ his reason in amending his
primitive condition; while his reason is so far from being adequate to its
work that it is subject to an irresistible fatigue which can be moderated
only by strong and constant stimulus. Instead of lamenting over this
discordance, we must receive it as a first authentic information supplied
to social science by biology, and one which must radically affect the
general character of human society first, and afterwards the rate of the
social evolution. The consequence which immediately concerns us here
is, that almost all men are naturally unfit for intellectual labour, and
devoted to material activity; so that the speculative state cannot well be
produced, much less sustained, in them but by some impulse of another
kind, kept up by lower but stronger propensities. However important
individual differences in this respect may be, the differences are of de-
gree only, so that the most eminent natures hold their place in the com-
parison; and men must be classed, in a scientific sense by the nobleness
or increasing speciality of the affective faculties by which the intellec-
tual incitement is produced. If we observe the ascending scale of these
faculties, upon Gall’s theory, we see that, among the generality of men
the intellectual tension is (with some exceptions of that speculative im-
pulse to which all human beings are liable) habitually supported only by
the strong stimulus derived from the needs of the organic life, and the
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