SESSION ONE
Auguste Comte 1798 – 1857. Positivist philosopher who coined the term ‘altruism’. The first ‘philosopher of science’ and one of the founders of ‘sociology’. He coined the term ‘the West’, and ‘Westernness’, in the 1840s.
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Modern Intellectual History, pp. 1 - 31, Cambridge University Press 2017
doi:10.1017/S1479244317000415
‘The godfather of “occidentality”: Auguste Comte and the idea of “the West”’
Georgios Varouxakis
School of History, Queen Mary University of London
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EXTRACTS:
1.
The first meaning of ‘the West’ is said to be: “The original and persistent core of the West has always been Latin Christendom, derived ultimately from the Western Roman Empire—with (ancient) Greece included whenever the search for origins goes deeper.” (p. 5)
2.
This brings us to one of Comte’s favourite ideas, his “law of the three states.” He argued that humankind had gone through three stages of evolution, depending on the development of the human mind in particular. The first stage he called “theological,” when people attributed everything that happened in the natural world to direct divine intervention. Then came the “metaphysical” state, when gods were replaced by abstract entities and substances as explanations for phenomena. The final state of the human mind was the “positive” state, which was characterized by scientific explanations and by a quest for relative knowledge and laws of explanation (as opposed to the quest for absolutes and for ultimate causes that had characterized the previous states). The first stage was one of offensive war or conquest; the second, transitional, stage was one of defensive war; the third, positive, stage was industrial and peaceful. Thus, in the positive state, war and conquest would be seriously anachronistic.
The positive state would be the final and permanent state of the human mind and human society. Comte thought that what he saw was the most advanced part of the world, “the ´elite of humanity,” ought to be organized in a particular way that would overcome the anarchy that had resulted from the “metaphysical” politics of the previous centuries of critical upheaval. This much-needed reorganization was possible in his time, thanks to his systematization of positivism and elaboration of sociology. He argued that the most advanced part of the world was ready for that new order, that would re-create the salutary separation of spiritual from temporal (political) power, but, crucially, without any need to believe in the existence of a supernatural God. He envisaged that the theoretical class (les savants – those who know), the scientists–thinkers–philosophers, would form themselves into an organized body and constitute “the spiritual power” for the whole of the advanced world. Meanwhile, temporal power would be in the hands of members of the capitalist class in each distinct temporal republic (headed by bankers). (p. 16)
3.
The temporal governments would rule over the industrial organization of each of the small states of the size of Tuscany or Belgium. The spiritual power, however, would be one for the whole of the Western Republic (République occidentale), which would include the five great “national”—or, more accurately, linguistic/cultural—groupings of Western Europe (French, Italian, Iberian [Spanish/Portuguese], British, German) as well as their colonial transplantations in the Americas, Australia and so on. Whereas the temporal power would look after solidarity among the members of each limited state, the spiritual power wouldensure continuity between the dead, future generations and those living in the present throughout the West. The spiritual power would be charged with the education of the youth, but also with the continual education and moral guidance of people throughout life, as well as keeping the temporal power in check. The capital of the new supranational entity united by the spiritual power, “the West,” was to be, naturellement, Paris. (p. 17)
4.
However, far from its emergence being related to the needs of European imperialism, as has often been argued, the modern idea of the West has clear anti-imperialist origins. Of course, prima facie it could be plausible to say that Comte’s international vision was one more version of the “transnational projects of empire in France” that David Todd analyzed in this journal recently. But seeing only the Franco-centrism of the project would be unfair and one-sided. For there was a strong anti-imperialist thrust in Comte’s political project. Though strikingly Eurocentric, his long-term utopian plan was meant to become universal and inclusive, aimed to encompass the whole of Humanity. And no matter how patronizing it may appear to us today, if judged against any proposed alternatives in the nineteenth century, Comte’s scheme was a plea for the Western nations to associate with the rest of the world “on terms of mutual courtesy and fair reciprocity of advantage.” (p. 31)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modern Intellectual History, pp. 1 - 31, Cambridge University Press 2017
doi:10.1017/S1479244317000415
‘The godfather of “occidentality”: Auguste Comte and the idea of “the West”’
Georgios Varouxakis
School of History, Queen Mary University of London
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXTRACTS:
1.
The first meaning of ‘the West’ is said to be: “The original and persistent core of the West has always been Latin Christendom, derived ultimately from the Western Roman Empire—with (ancient) Greece included whenever the search for origins goes deeper.” (p. 5)
2.
This brings us to one of Comte’s favourite ideas, his “law of the three states.” He argued that humankind had gone through three stages of evolution, depending on the development of the human mind in particular. The first stage he called “theological,” when people attributed everything that happened in the natural world to direct divine intervention. Then came the “metaphysical” state, when gods were replaced by abstract entities and substances as explanations for phenomena. The final state of the human mind was the “positive” state, which was characterized by scientific explanations and by a quest for relative knowledge and laws of explanation (as opposed to the quest for absolutes and for ultimate causes that had characterized the previous states). The first stage was one of offensive war or conquest; the second, transitional, stage was one of defensive war; the third, positive, stage was industrial and peaceful. Thus, in the positive state, war and conquest would be seriously anachronistic.
The positive state would be the final and permanent state of the human mind and human society. Comte thought that what he saw was the most advanced part of the world, “the ´elite of humanity,” ought to be organized in a particular way that would overcome the anarchy that had resulted from the “metaphysical” politics of the previous centuries of critical upheaval. This much-needed reorganization was possible in his time, thanks to his systematization of positivism and elaboration of sociology. He argued that the most advanced part of the world was ready for that new order, that would re-create the salutary separation of spiritual from temporal (political) power, but, crucially, without any need to believe in the existence of a supernatural God. He envisaged that the theoretical class (les savants – those who know), the scientists–thinkers–philosophers, would form themselves into an organized body and constitute “the spiritual power” for the whole of the advanced world. Meanwhile, temporal power would be in the hands of members of the capitalist class in each distinct temporal republic (headed by bankers). (p. 16)
3.
The temporal governments would rule over the industrial organization of each of the small states of the size of Tuscany or Belgium. The spiritual power, however, would be one for the whole of the Western Republic (République occidentale), which would include the five great “national”—or, more accurately, linguistic/cultural—groupings of Western Europe (French, Italian, Iberian [Spanish/Portuguese], British, German) as well as their colonial transplantations in the Americas, Australia and so on. Whereas the temporal power would look after solidarity among the members of each limited state, the spiritual power wouldensure continuity between the dead, future generations and those living in the present throughout the West. The spiritual power would be charged with the education of the youth, but also with the continual education and moral guidance of people throughout life, as well as keeping the temporal power in check. The capital of the new supranational entity united by the spiritual power, “the West,” was to be, naturellement, Paris. (p. 17)
4.
However, far from its emergence being related to the needs of European imperialism, as has often been argued, the modern idea of the West has clear anti-imperialist origins. Of course, prima facie it could be plausible to say that Comte’s international vision was one more version of the “transnational projects of empire in France” that David Todd analyzed in this journal recently. But seeing only the Franco-centrism of the project would be unfair and one-sided. For there was a strong anti-imperialist thrust in Comte’s political project. Though strikingly Eurocentric, his long-term utopian plan was meant to become universal and inclusive, aimed to encompass the whole of Humanity. And no matter how patronizing it may appear to us today, if judged against any proposed alternatives in the nineteenth century, Comte’s scheme was a plea for the Western nations to associate with the rest of the world “on terms of mutual courtesy and fair reciprocity of advantage.” (p. 31)
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