STABILITY OF OPINIONS. 431 study. This last effort alone, therefore, is thoroughly effectual in destroying the absolute philosophy: and if it were possible that I could be mistaken as to the true law of human development, the only inference would be that we must find a better sociological doctrine; and I should still have constituted the only method that could lead to positive knowledge of the human mind, regarded henceforth in the whole of its necessary conditions. Mental immutability being thus discarded, the relative philosophy is directly established for we have been thus led to conceive of successive theories as accelerated approximations towards a reality which can never be rigorously estimated, -the best theory being, at any time, that which best represents the aggregate of corresponding observations, according to the natural course so well understood by scientific minds; to which sociological philosophy adds a complete generalization, and thenceforth a dogmatic sanction. If there should be any fear for the stability of opinions, under this view, it is enough to point out that, in a statical Stability of aspect, however different the universe may appear to opinions. any existing and any conceivable order of beings, the foundation of knowledge must be essentially the same in all cases, differing largely in degree, but not in kind. Both the experimental and the logical part of every idea must be of the same sort to all minds, however differing in intensity; and we cannot deny the universality of the intellectual laws without denying that of all the other biological laws. The inferior animals know the universe much less than we do, as superior beings might know it much better, by more complete observation and more general reasoning: but in all these cases, the subject of investigation and the basis of conception remain the same, amidst wide differences of degree, such as we see in a small way every day among men of different capacities,-even mental maladies not affecting the case. In a dynamical view, it is clear that the variations in human opinion, according to time and place, do not affect the radical uniformity; for we now know the law of evolution to which these mutations are subject. There never would have been any apprehension about the matter, except for the absolute philosophy which could not conceive of truth apart from immutability and to this it is owing that modern thinkers of the revolutionary school sever themselves wholly from the past, and regard all ancient opinion as a kind of chronic state of mental alienation, without inquiring any more into the reasons of its cessation than into its origin. Our historical survey has shown us that, through successive phases, the human race was advancing towards the fundamental truth to which we ourselves are only approximating, without any hope of attaining it. Sound philosophy interprets to us the progress, analogous to our own, by which the general mind grew up towards maturity, through the same principle of an increasing accordance between observations and conceptions, which now : convinces us of the progressive reality of our various positive ideas, since the inquiry into laws prevailed over the search after causes. Such is the relative character of the sociological philosophy,―setting before us the great human evolution, subject to a determinate course; governing at each period aggregate human thought, so as to reconcile the most mutually repugnant systems, by referring each to its corresponding position, without ever compromising the strength of the final decision by any such eclecticism as now aspires to lead the intellectual movement, while itself perpetually oscillating between the absolute and the arbitrary, which it appears equally to admire. The spectacle of dogmatic variations, as exhibited in human history, which is really dangerous to unfortified understandings, is thenceforth converted, by a judicious historical observation, into a direct and permanent source of the firmest and most extensive agreement. Such is the nature of the positive method. The next inquiry is Destination of of its destination,-in regard to the individual, the the Method. race, speculative life and practical life. The theoretical office in regard to the individual consists in satisfying the double need of extending and connecting his real knowledge. The connection between our conceptions offered by the old philosophies, The Indi- hindered their extension by providing beforehand an vidual. explanation to suit all imaginable cases; and the consequence would have been a total obstruction of knowledge, but for the secondary questions, pertaining to common affairs, which disclosed the operation of laws, without which Man could not have guided his conduct from hour to hour. From this accessory, special, and desultory positivity, genuine investigation proceeded at length, and manifested its aptitude, first to connect our conceptions, and by that very connection to extend them; and then, using every extension to perfect the anterior connection. Though the introduction of new facts may appear to disturb the positive arrangement, all experience proves,-and the experience is now long enough to be relied on,—that the positive method solves all such difficulties by its faithful subordination of conceptions to realities. Meeting these two needs as it meets those of order and progress in social affairs, its function may be simply described as constituting the general harmony of our intellectual system, so as to express the natural pre-eminence of statical over dynamical needs, those of existence over those of motion, in the case of the race as well as the individual. The relative character of the philosophical spirit exhibits this logical coherence as always constituting the most decisive testimony to the reality of our conceptions, because their correspondence with our observations is thus secured, and we may depend upon being as near the truth as the corresponding state of things allows. Now, as all rational prevision consists in passing regularly from one idea to another, in virtue of their mutual connection, such a prevision is necessarily the most perfect criterion of true positivity, DESTINATION OF THE METHOD. The race. 433 manifesting as it does the destination of that fundamental harmony which makes the extension of our knowledge result from its general co-ordination. It is true, the feebleness of the speculative faculties in the human being prevents these intellectual needs from being very prominent; but they are more keenly felt than might be supposed from the patient resignation with which the human mind has endured a philosophical system which affords them no satisfaction; and it is a proof of this that there has never been a time when the introduction of new truth from without has not been hailed with extreme eagerness; an avidity which shows that theological and metaphysical explanations had been put up with merely under the impossibility of obtaining anything better, and without in any degree impairing the cerebral appetite for sound alimentation. The very weakness of our understandings is only another reason for our involuntary predilection for real knowledge,-important as is the comfort to us of reposing on the steadiness and continuity which cannot be recognized in single phenomena, and which bring all irksome doubt to a welcome close. Even greater,-immeasurably greater, is the service rendered to the race by the speculative office which is thus important to the individual; for it constitutes the logical basis of human association. It harmonizes the collective in the same way as the individual mind, by means of the same property, though with unequal rapidity in the two cases. The resemblance between the individual and the collective human mind assures us that whatever philosophy constitutes a logical coherence in a single mind may be relied on, for that reason, to bring all thinkers into harmony, sooner or later. It is in this way that great philosophical minds become the intellectual guides of Humanity, undergoing first the mental revolution which they make easier and more speedy to others by its manifestation in themselves. If this oneness of interest was evident amidst the extravagances of former philosophies, it must be complete and irresistible in the positive state,-all minds speculating on a common basis, open to their examination, but untouched by their authority, and proceeding by a homogeneous course, from the same startingpoint to identical investigations, their inequality affecting only the date of their success. The inverse action is clear;-that such an inevitable and unanimous concurrence must confirm the reality of the new conceptions, no less than their opportuneness. another view, no partial intelligence can so separate itself from the general mass as not to be essentially carried on with it,-even if it be-as an extreme case—that of a wise physician compelled to live among madmen, whose vehement convictions inevitably act upon his own. The most profound thinker will therefore never forget that all men must be regarded as coadjutors in discovering truth, as well as in applying it. However nobly bold may be the genius destined to advance the general wisdom, its absolute isolation would VOL. II. 2 E In be as irrational as immoral. The state of abstraction which is a condition of high intellectual achievements, involves so much danger of error, by either negligence or illusion, that every good mind will prize the control of the general reason, steadying and correcting his particular adventurous course, till he shall have established his claim to that general assent which is the object of his labours. This speculative convergence, once obtained, becomes the first elementary condition of true association, which requires a union of concurrent interests with not only a sufficient conformity of sentiment, but also, and above all, of opinions; this triple foundation being indispensable to practical and durable association, from the household up to the whole human race. The deep-seated hatred always aroused by serious intellectual disagreement, indicates that, notwithstanding the feebleness of our intellectual faculties, any action on them affects the whole of our conduct, and that human association requires, in its highest state, their universal coincidence. I need only point to the disturbances, personal, domestic, and social, occasioned by the old philosophy which once exercised a harmonizing influence, however imperfect, to show the need of the new philosophy, which can alone furnish the basis of true intellectual communion, manifesting a consistence and extension to which the past can afford no parallel. This is the speculative destination of the positive method, for individual and collective Man. Whenever, in the course of this Work, we have noticed the Specula- intellectual needs that relate to practical life, we tive life. have found them confirmatory of my view of the positive philosophy. It is as the basis of rational action that science has hitherto been universally prized; and that attribute will never lose any of its value. We have seen throughout how practical needs have generated science in all departments; though the science could not have been thus generated if our mental tendencies had not been favourable to it; since the practical aptitude of positive theories could be discovered only by adequate culture, driving out theological and metaphysical chimeras which made much larger promises. When once the relation of science to practical wants was made clear in a few cases, it became a very effectual stimulus to the philosophical spirit by exposing the impotence of the system of arbitrary wills and entities in directing Man's action upon nature; and the rationality and positivity of our conceptions were proved, to the eminent advantage of lofty scientific speculation, when prevision was made the ground of action, and the humblest practical problems were seen to be connected with the highest theoretical researches; as in the arts which relate to astronomy. Though some few minds find sufficient stimulus to the philosophical labour which is repugnant to our nature in the need to know phenomena and to connect them, the philosophical discipline would have been considerably retarded if practical exigencies had not PRACTICAL LIFE. 435 Practical life. afforded a more general instigation. By completing the system of natural philosophy, the creation of sociology must prodigiously extend the relation between speculation and practice, which must henceforth embrace all possible cases. The rational subordination of art to science has already begun to be organized, however imperfectly, in the natural order of the sciences, beginning with the geometrical and mechanical arts, proceeding through the physico-chemical, and now, in our own time, including the biological, which are concerned with the preservation of health and the treatment of disease. The political art remained unattempted, its proud severance from all theory whatever being a mere testimony to the radical insufficiency of any theory yet proposed, and being destined to give way whenever the general reason shall perceive that here, as in other departments, phenomena are referred to real natural laws, such as may habitually supply practical guidance. Hence again, as in other cases, philosophy will derive fresh stimulus from its connection with practice, and our knowledge will increase and improve both in positivity and rationality. In thus ascertaining the destination of the positive method, we arrive at a better knowledge of its nature, through the inquiry into the direction of its efforts, and the degree of precision they admit of. In the absence of all guidance, in the earliest days of positivism, its spirit applied itself to everything that came in its way; but the blind instinct must yield, with the progress of science, to philosophical discipline, sanctioned by the popular good sense which is always opposed to a useless expenditure of our intellectual forces. When our theoretical labours are duly organized, the highest scientific and philosophical minds will be at command, to give their attention to the great subjects of the period, instead of being wasted as they are at this day; and the limit of research will be fixed no less indisputably than its kind, from its being ascertained to what point the natural laws which are the real object of study, are compatible with detail in investigation. We find in various cases, and especially in astronomy, that sound theory cannot successfully transcend the precision demanded by practical needs,— a purposeless inquisition being too likely to end in destroying laws already established, without any substitution of new guidance. One more suggestion remains, with regard to the destination of the positive method; that, from its relative spirit, it Liberty of determines the kind of liberty of option left to our method. understandings in the formation of conceptions, as long as we respect the reality of external laws. In the construction of scientific works, we may give them the most suitable form, as we would in the æsthetic province. There are two kinds of cases to be considered in each department of research; those which are, though of a positive nature, indefinitely inaccessible, and those which are simply premature, but on which it is of consequence to us to have |