have bequeathed to Western Europe. The striking superiority of social
life in the West is probably due to it more than to any other cause.
Protestant countries have seriously impaired its value by their laws of
divorce. But this aberration will hardly be permanent. It is alien to
the purer feelings of women and of the people, and the mischief done by
it is limited to the privileged classes. France is now threatened with
a revival of the metaphysical delusions of the Revolution, and it is
feared by some that the disastrous example of Germany in this respect
will be imitated. But all such tendencies, being utterly inconsistent
with the habits of modern life, will soon be checked by the sounder
philosophical principles which have now arisen. The mode of resistance
to these errors which Positivism adopts will render the struggle most
useful in hastening the adoption of the true theory of marriage. The
spirit of Positivism being always relative, concessions may be made
to meet exceptional cases, without weakening or contradicting the
principle; whereas the absolute character of theological doctrine was
incompatible with concession. The rules of morality should be general
and comprehensive; but in their practical application exceptions have
often to be made. By no philosophy but the Positive can these two
conditions be reconciled.
[Perpetual widowhood]
To the spirit of anarchy, however, Positivism yields nothing. The unity
essential to marriage, it renders more complete than ever. It develops
the principle of monogamy, by inculcating, not as a legal institution,
but as moral duty, the perpetuity of widowhood. Affection so firmly
concentrated has always been regarded with respect even on man’s side.
But hitherto no religion has had sufficient purity or influence to
secure its adoption. Positivism, however, from the completeness of its
synthesis, and from the fact that its rules are invariably based on the
laws of nature, will gain such influence, and we find little difficulty
in inducing all natures of delicate feeling to accept this additional
obligation. It follows from the very principle which to the Positivist
is the object of all marriage, the raising and purifying of the heart.
Unity of the tie which is already recognized as necessary in life, is
not less so in death. Constancy in widowhood was once common among
women; and if its moral beauty is less appreciated now, it is because
all systematic morality has been forgotten. But it is none the less,
as careful study of human nature will show, a most precious source of
moral good, and one which is not beyond the reach of nobler natures,
even in their youth. Voluntary widowhood, while it offers all the
advantages which chastity can confer on the intellectual and physical
as well as on the moral nature, is yet free from the moral dangers
of celibacy. Constant adoration of one whom Death has implanted
more visibly and deeply on the memory, leads all high natures, and
especially philosophers, to give themselves more unreservedly to the
service of Humanity; and thus their public life is animated by the
ennobling influence of their innermost feelings. Alike from a sense of
their own truest happiness and from devotion to public duty, they will
be led to this result.
Deep as is the satisfaction in this prolongation of the sacredness
of marriage, it may be carried by those who recognize its value yet
further. As the death of one did not destroy the bond, so neither
should the death of both. Let, then, those whom death could not divide
be laid in the same grave together. A promise of this solemn act of
perpetuation might be given beforehand, when the organs of public
opinion judged it merited. A man would find a new motive for public
exertion, if it were felt to be a pledge that the memory of her whom he
loved should be for ever coupled with his own. We have a few instances
where this union of memories has taken place spontaneously, as in
the case of Laura and Petrarch, and of Dante and Beatrice. Yet these
instances are so exceptional, that they hardly help us to realize
the full value of the institution proposed. There is no reason for
limiting it to cases of extraordinary genius. In the more healthy state
of society to which we are tending, where private and public life
will be far more closely connected than they have been hitherto, this
recompense of service may be given to all who have deserved it, by
those who have come within their circle of influence.
Such, then, are the consolations which Positivist sympathy can
give. They leave no cause to regret the visionary hopes held out by
Christianity, hopes which now are as enfeebling to the heart as to
the intellect. Here, as in all other respects, the moral superiority
of Positivism is shown, for the comfort which it gives to the bereaved
implies a strengthening of the tie. Christian consolation, of which
so much has been said, rather encourages a second union. By so doing
it seriously impairs the value of the institution; for a division of
affection arises, which indeed seems hardly compatible with the vague
utopia of a future life. The institutions of perpetual widowhood and of
union in the tomb have found no place in any previous system, though
both were wanting to make monogamy complete. Here, as elsewhere, the
best reply which the new philosophy can give to ignorant prejudice
or malignant calumny, is to take new steps forward in the moral
advancement of Man.
Thus the theory of marriage, as set forward by the Positivist, becomes
totally independent of any physical motive. It is regarded by him as
the most powerful instrument of moral education; and therefore as the
basis of public or individual welfare. It is no overstrained enthusiasm
which leads us to elevate the moral purity of marriage. We do so
from rigorous examination of the facts of human nature. All the best
results, whether personal or social, of marriage may follow, when the
union, though more impassioned, is as chaste as that of brother and
sister. The sexual instinct has no doubt something to do in most cases
with the first formation of the passion; but it is not necessary in
all cases to gratify the instinct. Abstinence, in cases where there is
real ground for it on both sides, will but serve to strengthen mutual
affection.
[Woman’s mission as a mother]
We have examined the position of Woman as a wife, without supposing her
to be a mother. We shall find that maternity, while it extends her
sphere of moral influence, does not alter its nature.
As a mother, no less than as a wife, her position will be improved
by Positivism. She will have, almost exclusively, the direction of
household education. Public education given subsequently, will be
little but a systematic development of that which has been previously
given at home.
[Education of children
belongs to mothers.
They only can guide the
development of character]
For it is a fundamental principle that education, in the normal
condition of society, must be entrusted to the spiritual power; and
in the family the spiritual power is represented by Woman. There are
strong prejudices against entrusting the education of children to
mothers: prejudices springing from the revolutionary spirit of modern
times. Since the close of the Middle Ages, the tendency has been to
place the intellect above the heart. We have neglected the moral side
of education, and I have given undue importance to its intellectual
side. But Positivism having superseded this revolutionary phase by
demonstrating the preponderance of the heart over the intellect, moral
education will resume its proper place. Certainly the present mode of
instruction is not adopted for Woman’s teaching. But their influence
over the education of the future will be even greater than it was in
the Middle Ages. For in the first place, in every part of it, moral
considerations will be paramount; and moreover, until puberty, nothing
will be studied continuously except Art and Poetry. The knights of old
times were usually brought up in this way under feminine guidance, and
on them most assuredly it had no enervating influence. The training can
hardly be supposed less adapted to a pacific than to a warlike state of
society. For instruction, theoretical and practical, as distinguished
from education, masters are no doubt necessary. But moral education
will be left entirely to women, until the time arrives for systematic
teaching of moral science in the years immediately preceding majority.
Here the philosopher is necessary. But the chief duties of the
philosopher lie with adults; his aim being to recall them, individually
or collectively, to principles impressed on them in childhood, and to
enforce the right application of these principles to special cases as
they may arise. That part of education which has the greatest influence
on life, what may be called the spontaneous training of the feelings,
belongs entirely to the mother. Hence it is, as I have already
observed, of the greatest importance to allow the pupil to remain with
his family, and to do away with the monastic seclusion of our public
schools.
The peculiar fitness of women for inculcating these elementary
principles of morality is a truth which every true philosopher will
fully recognize. Women, having stronger sympathies than men, must
be better able to call out sympathies in others. Men of good sense
have always felt it more important to train the heart than the head;
and this is the view adopted by Positive Philosophy. There is a
danger of exaggerating the importance of system and of forgetting
the conditions on which its utility depends; but the Positivist is
preserved from this danger by the peculiar reality of his philosophy.
In morals, even more than in other subjects, we can only systematize
what has existed previously without system. The feelings must first
be stimulated to free and direct action, before we attempt to bring
them under philosophic discipline. And this process, which begins with
birth, and lasts during the whole period of physical growth, should
be left for women to superintend. So specially are they adapted for
it, that failing the mother, a female friend, if well chosen, and if
she can make herself sufficiently a member of the family, will in most
cases do better than the father himself. The importance of the subject
can only be appreciated by minds dominated, as women’s minds are, by
feeling. Women can see, what men can seldom see, that most actions, and
certainly the actions of youth and childhood, ought not to be judged
in themselves so much as by the tendencies which they show or by the
habits to which they lead. Viewed with reference to their influence
on character, no actions are indifferent. The simplest events in a
child’s life may serve as an occasion for enforcing the fundamental
principle by which the early as well as later stages of Positivist
education should be directed; the strengthening of Social Feeling,
the weakening of Self-love. In fact, actions of an unimportant kind
are precisely those in which it is easiest to appreciate the feelings
which prompted them; since the mind of the observer, not being occupied
with the consequences of such actions, is more free to examine their
source. Moreover, it is only by teaching the child to do right in small
things that he can be trained for the hard inward struggle that lies
before him in life; the struggle to bring the selfish instincts more
and more completely under the control of his higher sympathies. In
these respects the best tutor, however sympathetic his nature, will be
always far inferior to a good mother. A mother may often not be able to
explain the reason of the principle on which she acts, but the wisdom
of her plans will generally show itself in the end. Without formal
teaching, she will take every opportunity of showing her children, as
no other instructor could show them, the joy that springs from generous
feelings, and the misery of yielding to selfishness.
From the relation of mother we return by a natural transition to
Woman’s position as a wife. The mother, though her authority of course
tends to decrease, continues to superintend the growth of character
until the ordinary age of marriage. Up to that time feminine influence
over Man has been involuntary on his part. By marriage he enters into
a voluntary engagement of subordination to Woman for the rest of his
life. Thus he completes his moral education. Destined himself for
action, he finds his highest happiness in honourable submission to one
in whom the dominant principle is affection.
Positivism holds out to woman a most important sphere of public and
private duty. This sphere, as we may now see, is nothing but a larger
and more systematic development of the qualities by which she is
characterized. Her mission is so uniform in its nature and so clearly
defined, that there seems hardly room for much uncertainty as to her
proper social position. It is a striking instance of the rule which
applies universally to all human effort; namely, that the order of
things instituted by man ought to be simply a consolidation and
improvement of the natural order.
[Modern sophisms about
Women’s rights. The
domesticity of her life
follows from the principle
of Separation of Powers]
In all ages of transition, as in our own, there have been false and
sophistical views of the social position of Woman. But we find it
to be a natural law that Woman should pass the greater part of her
life in the family; and this law has never been affected to any
important extent. It has always been accepted instinctively, though
the sophistical arguments against it have never yet been adequately
refuted. The institution of the family has survived the subtle attacks
of Greek metaphysics, which then were in all the vigour of their
youth, and which were acting on minds that had no systematic principles
to oppose to them. Therefore, profound as the intellectual anarchy of
the present day may be, we need not be seriously alarmed when we see
that nothing worse comes of it than shallow plagiarisms from ancient
utopias, against which the vigorous satire of Aristophanes was quite
enough to rouse general indignation. True, there is a more complete
absence of social principles now, than when the world was passing
from Polytheism to Monotheism; but our intellectual powers are more
developed than they were then, and in moral culture our superiority
is even greater. Women in those times were too degraded to offer
even the opposition of their silence to the pedants who professed
to be taking up their cause; the only resistance offered was of a
purely intellectual kind. But happily in modern times the women of
the West have been free; and have consequently been able to manifest
such unmistakable aversion for these ideas, and for the want of moral
discipline which gives rise to them, that, though still unrefuted
philosophically, their mischievous effects have been neutralized.
Nothing but women’s antipathy has prevented the practical outrages
which seem logically to follow from these subversive principles. Among
our privileged classes the danger is aggravated by indolence; moreover,
the possession of wealth has a bad influence on women’s moral nature.
Yet even here the evil is not really very deep or widely spread. Men
have never been seriously perverted, and women still less so, by
flattery of their bad propensities. The really formidable temptations
are those which act upon our better instincts, and give them a wrong
direction. Schemes which are utterly offensive to female delicacy will
never really be adopted, even by the wealthier classes, who are less
averse to them than others. The repugnance shown to them by the people,
with whom the mischief that they would cause would be irreparable, is
far more decided. The life which working people lead makes it very
clear to both sexes what the proper position of each should be. Thus
it will be in the very class where the preservation of the institution
of the family is of the greatest importance, that Positivists will
find the least difficulty in establishing their theory of the social
position of women, as consequent on the sphere of public and private
duty which has been here assigned to them.
Looking at the relation of this theory to other parts of the Positive
system, we shall see that it follows from the great principle which
dominates every other social problem, the principle of separating
spiritual and temporal power. That Woman’s life should be concentrated
in her family, and that even there her influence should be that
of persuasion rather than that of command, is but an extension of
the principle which excludes the spiritual power from political
administration. Women, as the purest and most spontaneous of the moral
forces of society, are bound to fulfil with rigorous exactness all the
conditions which the exercise of moral force demands. Effectually to
perform their mission of controlling and guiding our affections, they
must abstain altogether from the practical pursuits of the stronger
sex. Such abstinence, even when the arrangements of society may leave
it optional, is still more desirable in their case than in the case of
philosophers. Active life, incompatible as it is with the clearness and
breadth of philosophic speculation, is even more injurious to delicacy
of feeling, which is women’s highest claim to our respect and the true
secret of their influence. The philosophic spirit is incompatible with
a position of practical authority, because such a position occupies
the mind with questions of detail. But to purity of feeling it is
even more dangerous, because it strengthens the instincts of power
and of gain. And for women it would be harder to avoid the danger of
such a position than for men. Abounding as they do in sympathy, they
are generally deficient in energy, and are therefore less able to
withstand corrupting influences. The more we examine this important
subject, the clearer it becomes that the present condition of women
does not hamper them in their true work; that, on the contrary, it is
well calculated to develop and even improve their highest qualities.
The natural arrangements of society in this as in other respects are
far less faulty than certain blind declaimers would have us believe.
But for the existence of strong material forces, moral force would
soon deteriorate, because its distinctive purpose would be gone.
Philosophers and proletaries would soon lose their intellectual and
moral superiority by the acquisition of power. On women its effect
would be still more disastrous. From instances in the upper classes
of society, where wealth gives them independence, and sometimes
unfortunately even power, we see but too clearly what the consequences
would be. And this is why we have to look to the poorer classes for the
highest type of womanly perfection. With the people sympathy is better
cultivated, and has a greater influence upon life. Wealth has more to
do with the moral degradation of women among the privileged classes
than even idleness and dissipation.
[The position of the sexes
tends to differentiation
rather than identity]
Progress, in this respect as in every other, is only a more complete
development of the pre-existing Order. Equality in the position of the
two sexes is contrary to their nature, and no tendency to it has at
any time been exhibited. All history assures us that with the growth
of society the peculiar features of each sex have become not less but
more distinct. By Catholic Feudalism the social condition of women in
Western Europe was raised to a far higher level. But it took away from
them the priestly functions which they had held under Polytheism; a
religion in which the priesthood was more occupied with Art than with
Science. So too with the gradual decline of the principle of Caste,
women have been excluded more and more rigidly from royalty and from
every other kind of political authority. Again, there is a visible
tendency towards the removal of women from all industrial occupations,
even from those which might seem best suited to them. And thus female
life, instead of becoming independent of the Family, is being more and
more concentrated in it; while at the same time their proper sphere of
moral influence is constantly extending. The two tendencies so far from
being opposed, are inseparably connected.
Without discussing the absurd and retrograde schemes which have
been recently put forward on the subject, there is one remark which
may serve to illustrate the value of the order which now exists.
If women were to obtain that equality in the affairs of life which
their so-called champions are claiming for them without their wish,
not only would they suffer morally, but their social position would
be endangered. They would be subject in almost every occupation to
a degree of competition which they would not be able to sustain.
Moreover, by rivalry in the pursuits of life, mutual affection between
the sexes would be corrupted at its source.
[Woman to be maintained by
Man]
Leaving these subversive dreams, we find a natural principle which, by
determining the practical obligations of the Active to the Sympathetic
sex, averts this danger. It is a principle which no philosophy but
Positivism has been sufficiently real and practical to bring forward
systematically for general acceptance. It is no new invention, however,
but a universal tendency, confirmed by careful study of the whole
past history of Man. The principle is, that Man should provide for
Woman. It is a natural law of the human race; a law connected with
the essentially domestic character of female life. We find it in the
rudest forms of social life; and with every step in the progress of
society its adoption becomes more extensive and complete. A still
larger application of this fundamental principle will meet all the
material difficulties under which women are now labouring. All social
relations, and especially the question of wages, will be affected by
it. The tendency to it is spontaneous; but it also follows from the
high position which Positivism has assigned to Woman as the sympathetic
element in the spiritual power. The intellectual class, in the same
way, has to be supported by the practical class, in order to have its
whole time available for the special duties imposed upon it. But in the
case of women, the obligation of the other sex is still more sacred,
because the sphere of duty in which protection for them is required,
is the home. The obligation to provide for the intellectual class,
affects society as a whole; but the maintenance of women is, with few
exceptions, a personal obligation. Each individual should consider
himself bound to maintain the woman he has chosen to be his partner
in life. There are cases, however, in which men should be considered
collectively responsible for the support of the other sex. Women who
are without husband or parents should have their maintenance guaranteed
by society; and this not merely from compassion for their dependent
position, but with the view of enabling them to render public service
of the greatest moral value.
The direction, then, of progress in the social condition of woman is
this: to render her life more and more domestic; to diminish as far
as possible the burden of out-door labour; and so to fit her more
completely for her special office of educating our moral nature.
Among the privileged classes it is already a recognized rule that
women should be spared all laborious exertion. It is the one point
in the relations of the sexes in which the working classes would do
well to imitate the habits of their employers. In every other respect
the people of Western Europe have a higher sense of their duties
to women than the upper classes. Indeed there are few of them who
would not be ashamed of the barbarity of subjecting women to their
present burdensome occupations, if the present state of our industrial
system allowed of its abolition. But it is chiefly among the higher
and wealthier classes that we find those degrading and very often
fraudulent bargains, connected with unscrupulous interference of
parents in the question of marriage, which are so humiliating to one
sex and so corrupting to the other. Among the working classes the
practice of giving dowries is almost extinct; and as women’s true
mission becomes more recognized, and as choice in marriage becomes less
restricted, this relic of barbarism, with all its debasing results,
will rapidly die out. With this view the application of our theory
should be carried one step further. Women should not be allowed to
inherit. If inheritance be allowed, the prohibition of dowries would
be evaded in a very obvious manner by discounting the reversionary
interest. Since women are to be exempt from the labour of production,
capital, that is to say, the instruments of labour produced by each
generation for the benefit of the next, should revert to men. This view
of inheritance, so far from making men a privileged class, places them
under heavy responsibilities. It is not from women that any serious
opposition to it will proceed. Wise education will show them its value
to themselves personally, as a safeguard against unworthy suitors. But,
important as the rule is, it should not be legally enforced until it
has become established on its own merits as a general custom, which
every one has felt to conduce to the healthy organization of the Family
as here described.
[The education of women
should be identical with
that of men]
Coming now to the subject of female education, we have only to make a
further application of the theory which has guided us hitherto.
Since the vocation assigned by our theory to women is that of educating
others, it is clear that the educational system which we have proposed
in the last chapter for the working classes, applies to them as well
as to the other sex with very slight alterations. Unencumbered as it
is with specialities, it will be found, even in its more scientific
parts, as suitable to the sympathetic element of the moderating
power, as to the synergic element. We have spoken of the necessity
of diffusing sound historical views among the working classes; and
the same necessity applies to women; for social sympathy can never be
perfectly developed, without a sense of the continuity of the Past,
as well as of the solidarity of the Present. Since, then, both sexes
alike need historical instruction as a basis for the systematization of
moral truth, both should alike pass through the scientific training
which prepares the way for social studies, and which moreover has as
intrinsic a value for women as for men. Again, since the first or
spontaneous stage of education is entirely to be left to women, it is
most desirable that they should themselves have passed through the
second or systematic stage. The only department with which they need
not concern themselves, is what is called professional education.
But this, as I have before observed, is not susceptible of regular
organization. Professional skill can only be acquired by careful
practice and experience, resting upon a sound basis of theory. In all
other respects women, philosophers, and working men will receive the
same education.
But while I would place the sexes on a level in this respect, I do
not take the view of my eminent predecessor Condorcet, that they
should be taught together. On moral grounds, which of course are the
most important consideration, it is obvious that such a plan would be
equally prejudicial to both. In the church, in the club, in the salon,
they may associate freely at every period of life. But at school such
intercourse would be premature; it would check the natural development
of character, not to say that it would obviously have an unsettling
influence upon study. Until the feelings on both sides are sufficiently
matured, it is of the greatest importance that the relations of the two
sexes should not be too intimate, and that they should be superintended
by the watchful eye of their mothers.
As, however, the subjects of study are to be the same for both, the
necessity of separating the sexes does not imply that there should be
special teachers for women. Not to speak of the increased expenditure
that would thus be incurred, it would inevitably lower the standard
of female education. It would always be presumed that their teachers
were men of inferior attainments. To ensure that the instruction given
is the same for both sexes, the instructors must be the same, and must
give their lectures alternately to each sex. These conditions are
perfectly compatible with the scheme described in the last chapter. It
was there mentioned that each philosopher would be expected to give
one, or, in some cases, two lectures every week. Now supposing this
were doubled, it would still come far short of the intolerable burdens
which are imposed upon teachers in the present day. Moreover, as the
Positivist educator will pass successively through the seven stages of
scientific instruction, he will be able so to regulate his work as to
avoid wearisome repetition of the same lectures in each year. Besides,
the distinguished men to whom our educational system will be entrusted
will soon discover that their two audiences require some difference in
the manner of teaching, and that this may be done without in any way
lowering the uniform standard which their method and their doctrines
require.
But independently of the importance to female education of this
identity of teachers, it will react beneficially on the intellectual
and moral character of the philosopher who teaches. It will preclude
him from entering into useless details, and will keep him involuntarily
to the broad principles of his subject. By coming into contact
simultaneously with two natures, in one of which thought, and in the
other emotion, is predominant, he will gain clearer insight into the
great principle of subordinating the intellect to the heart. The
obligation of teaching both sexes will complete that universality
of mind which is to be required of the new school of philosophers.
To treat with equal ability of all the various orders of scientific
conceptions, and to interest two audiences of so different a character,
is a task which will demand the highest personal qualifications.
However, as the number required by the conditions is not excessive,
it will not be impossible to find men fit for the purpose, as soon as
the proper means are taken to procure their services, and to guarantee
their material subsistence. It must be borne in mind, too, that the
corporation of teachers is not to be recruited from any one nation for
itself, but from the whole of Western Europe; so that the Positivist
educator will change his residence, when required, even more frequently
than the priests of the Middle Ages. Putting these considerations
together, we shall find that Positivist education for both sexes may be
organized on a sufficient scale for the whole of Western Europe, with
less than the useless, or worse than useless, expenditure incurred by
the clergy of the Anglican church. This would give each functionary
an adequate maintenance, though none of them would be degraded by
wealth. A body of twenty thousand philosophers would be enough now,
and probably would always suffice, for the spiritual wants of the five
Western nations. This would imply the establishment of the septennial
system of instruction in two thousand stations. The influence of women
and of working men will never become so systematic as to enable them
to dispense with philosophic assistance altogether. But in proportion
as they become more effectually incorporated as elements of the
spiritual power, the necessity of enlarging the purely speculative
class will diminish. Under theological systems it has been far too
numerous. The privilege of living in comfort without productive labour
will be ultimately so rare and so dearly earned, that no rational
ground of objection to it will be left. It will be generally felt
that the cost of maintaining these philosophic teachers, like that of
maintaining women, is no real burden to the productive classes; on the
contrary, that it conduces to their highest interest, by ensuring the
performance of intellectual and moral functions which are the noblest
characteristics of Humanity.
It appears, then, that the primary principle laid down at the
beginning of this chapter enables us to solve all the problems that
offer themselves on the subject of Woman. Her function in society is
determined by the constitution of her nature. She is spontaneously
the organ of Feeling, on which the unity of human nature entirely
depends. And she constitutes the purest and most natural element of the
moderating power; which, while avowing its own subordination to the
material forces of society, purposes to direct them to higher uses. As
mother and as wife, it is her office to conduct the moral education of
Humanity. In order the more perfectly to fulfil this mission, her life
must be connected even more closely than it has been with the Family.
At the same time she must participate, to the full extent that is
possible, in the general system of instruction.
[Women’s privileges. Their
mission is in itself a
privilege]
A few remarks on the privileges which the fulfilment of this vocation
will bring, will complete this part of my subject.
Women’s mission is a striking illustration of the truth that happiness
consists in doing the work for which we are naturally fitted. That
mission is always the same; it is summed up in one word, Love. But
Love is a work in which there can never be too many workers; it grows
by co-operation; it has nothing to fear from competition. Women are
charged with the education of Sympathy, the source of human unity;
and their highest happiness is reached when they have the full
consciousness of their vocation, and are free to follow it. It is the
admirable feature of their social mission, that it invites them to
cultivate qualities which are natural to them; to call into exercise
emotions which all allow to be the most pleasurable. All that is
required for them in a better organization of society are certain
improvements in their external condition. They must be relieved from
out-door labour; and other means must be taken to prevent their moral
influence from being impaired. Both objects are contemplated in the
material, intellectual, and moral ameliorations which Positivism is
destined to effect in female life.
[They will receive honour
and worship from men]
But besides the pleasure inherent in their vocation, Positivism offers
a recompense for their services, which Catholic Feudalism foreshadowed
but could not realize. As men become more and more grateful for the
blessing of their moral influence, they will give expression to this
feeling in a systematic form. In a word the new doctrine will institute
the Worship of Woman, publicly and privately, in a far more perfect
way than has ever before been possible. It is the first permanent step
towards the worship of Humanity; which, as the concluding chapter
of this introductory work will show, is the central principle of
Positivism, viewed either as a Philosophy or as a Polity.
[Development of mediaeval
chivalry]
Our ancestors in chivalrous times made noble efforts in this
direction, which, except by women, are now no longer appreciated.
But these efforts, however admirable, were inadequate; partly owing
to the military spirit of society in those times, partly because
their religious doctrines had not a sufficiently social character.
Nevertheless, they have left memories which will not perish. The
refinement of life in Western Europe is in great part due to them,
although much of it is already effaced by the anarchy of the present
time.
Chivalry, if we are to believe the negative philosophers of the last
century, can never revive; because the religious beliefs with which
it was connected have become obsolete. But the connexion was never
very profound, and there is no reason whatever for its continuance.
Far too much has been made of it by recent apologists for Catholicism;
who, while laying great stress on the sanction which Theology gave
to Chivalry, have failed to appreciate the sympathies to which this
admirable institution is really due. The real source of Chivalry lies
most unquestionably in the feudal spirit. Theological sanction for it
was afterwards sought for, as the only systematic basis that offered
itself at that time. But the truth is that Theology and Chivalry were
hardly compatible. Theology fixed men’s thoughts upon a visionary
future; Chivalry concentrated his energies upon the world around him.
The knight of the Middle Ages had always to choose between his God and
his Lady; and could therefore never attain that concentrated unity of
purpose, without which the full result of his mission, so generously
undertaken, could never be realized.
Placed as we are now, near the close of the revolutionary period, we
are beginning to see that Chivalry is not destined to extinction; that,
on the contrary, when modern life has assumed its normal character,
its influence will be greater than ever, because it will operate on a
more pacific society, and will be based on a more practical religion.
For Chivalry satisfies an essential want of society, a want which
becomes more urgent as civilization advances; it institutes a voluntary
combination of the strong for the protection of the weak. The period of
transition from the offensive military system of Rome to the defensive
system of Feudalism, was naturally the time of its first appearance,
and it received the sanction of the religion then dominant. But society
is now entering upon a period of permanent peace; and when this, the
most striking political feature of modern times, has become firmly
established, the influence of Chivalry will be greater than ever.
Its procedure will be different, because the modes of oppression are
happily not now what they were formerly. The instruments of material
force are now not arms, but riches. It is no longer the person that is
attacked, but his means of subsistence. The advantages of the change
are obvious: the danger is less serious, and protection from it is
easier and more effectual. But it will always remain most desirable
that protectors should come forward, and that they should form an
organized association. The destructive instinct will always show itself
in various ways, wherever there are the means of indulging it. And
therefore as an adjunct to the spiritual organization, Positivism will
encourage a systematic manifestation of chivalrous feeling among the
leaders of industry. Those among them who feel animated with the noble
spirit of the heroes of the Middle Ages, will devote not their sword,
but their wealth, their time, and, if need be, their whole energies
to the defence of the oppressed in all classes. The objects of their
generosity will principally be found, as in the Middle Ages, among the
classes specially exposed to material suffering, that is to say, among
women, philosophers, and working men. It would be strange indeed for a
system like Positivism, the main object of which is to strengthen the
social spirit, not to appropriate the institution which is the noblest
product of that spirit.
So far, then, the restoration of Chivalry is merely a reconstruction
of the mediaeval institution in a shape adapted to the altered state
of ideas and feelings. In modern as in mediaeval times, devotion of
the strong to the weak follows as a natural consequence from the
subordination of Politics to Morals. Now, as then, the spiritual
power will be nobly seconded by members of the governing class in the
attempt to bring that class to a stricter sense of social duty. But
besides this, Feudal Chivalry had a deeper and more special purpose in
reference to women. And in this respect the superiority of Positivism
is even more complete and obvious.
Feudalism introduced for the first time the worship of Woman. But
in this it met with little support from Catholicism, and was in
many respects thwarted by it. The habits of Christianity were in
themselves adverse to real tenderness of heart; they only strengthened
it indirectly, by promoting one of the indispensable conditions of
true affection, purity of life. In all other respects Chivalry was
constantly opposed by the Catholic system; which was so austere and
anti-social, that it could not sanction marriage except as an infirmity
which it was necessary to tolerate, but which was hazardous to personal
salvation. Even its rules of purity, valuable as they were, were often
weakened by interested motives which seriously impaired their value.
Consequently, notwithstanding all the noble and long-continued efforts
of our mediaeval ancestors, the institution of the worship of Woman was
very imperfectly effected, especially in its relation to public life.
Whatever Catholic apologists may say, there is every reason to believe
that if Feudalism could have arisen before the decline of Polytheism,
the influence of Chivalry would have been greater.
It was reserved for the more comprehensive system of Positivism, in
which sound practice is always supported by sound theory, to give full
expression to the feeling of veneration for women. In the new religion,
tenderness of heart is looked upon as the first of Woman’s attributes.
But purity is not neglected. On the contrary its true source and its
essential value, as the first condition of happiness and of moral
growth, are pointed out more distinctly than before. The shallow and
sophistical views of marriage maintained in these unsettled times by
men of narrow minds and coarse feelings, will be easily refuted by
a more careful study of human nature. Even the obstacles presented
by scientific materialism will rapidly disappear before the spread
of Positivist morality. A physician of great sagacity, Hufeland, has
remarked, with truth, that the well-known vigour of the knights of
old times was a sufficient answer to men who talked of the physical
dangers of continence. Positivism, dealing with this question in all
its aspects, teaches that while the primary reason for insisting on
purity is that it is essential to depth of affection, it has as close
a connexion with the physical and intellectual improvement of the
individual and the race as with our moral progress.
Positivism then, as the whole tendency of this chapter indicates,
encourages, on intellectual as well as on moral grounds, full and
systematic expression of the feeling of veneration for Women, in public
as well as in private life, collectively as well as individually.
Born to love and to be loved, relieved from the burdens of practical
life, free in the sacred retirement of their homes, the women of the
West will receive from Positivists the tribute of deep and sincere
admiration which their life inspires. They will feel no scruple in
accepting their position as spontaneous priestesses of Humanity; they
will fear no longer the rivalry of a vindictive Deity. From childhood
each of us will be taught to regard their sex as the principal source
of human happiness and improvement, whether in public life or in
private.
The treasures of affection which our ancestors wasted upon mystical
objects, and which these revolutionary times ignore, will then
be carefully preserved and directed to their proper purpose. The
enervating influence of chimerical beliefs will have passed away; and
men in all the vigour of their energies, feeling themselves the masters
of the known world, will feel it their highest happiness to submit with
gratitude to the beneficent power of womanly sympathy. In a word, Man
will in those days kneel to Woman, and to Woman alone.
The source from which these reverential feelings for the sympathetic
sex proceed, is a clear appreciation in the other sex of benefits
received, and a spirit of deep thankfulness for them. The Positivist
will never forget that moral perfection, the primary condition of
public and private happiness, is principally due to the influence of
Woman over Man, first as mother, then as wife. Such a conviction cannot
fail to arouse feelings of loving veneration for those with whom,
from their position in society, he is in no danger of rivalry in the
affairs of life. When the mission of woman is better understood, and is
carried out more fully, she will be regarded by Man as the most perfect
impersonation of Humanity.
[The practice of Prayer, so
far from disappearing, is
purified and strengthened in
Positive religion]
Originating in spontaneous feelings of gratitude, the worship of Woman,
when it has assumed a more systematic shape, will be valued for its
own sake as a new instrument of happiness and moral growth. Inert as
the tender sympathies are in Man, it is most desirable to strengthen
them by such exercise as the public and private institution of this
worship will afford. And here it is that Positivists will find all the
elevating influences which Catholicism derived from Prayer.
It is a common but very palpable error to imagine that Prayer is
inseparable from the chimerical motives of self-interest in which it
first originated. In Catholicism there was always a tendency to rise
above these motives, so far at least as the principles of theology
admitted. From St. Augustine downwards, all the nobler spirits have
felt more and more strongly, notwithstanding the self-absorbing
tendencies of Christian doctrine, that Prayer did not necessarily imply
petition. When sounder views of human nature have become prevalent,
the value of this important function will be more clearly appreciated;
and it will ultimately become of greater importance than ever, because
founded on a truer principle. In the normal state of Humanity, the
moral efficacy of Prayer will no longer be impaired by thoughts of
personal recompense. It will be simply a solemn out-pouring, whether
in private or in public, of men’s nobler feelings, inspiring them with
larger and more comprehensive thoughts. As a daily practice, it is
inculcated by Positivism as the best preservative against the selfish
and narrow views which are so apt to arise in the ordinary avocations
of life. To men its value is even greater than to women; their life
being less favourable to large views and general sympathies, it is the
more important to revive them at regular periods.
But Prayer would be of little value unless the mind could form a
clear conception of its object. The worship of Woman satisfies this
condition, and is so far of greater efficacy than the worship of
God. True, the ultimate object of Positivist Prayer, as shown in
the concluding chapter of this volume, is Humanity. But some of its
best moral effects would hardly be realized, if it were at once and
exclusively directed to an object so difficult to conceive clearly.
It is possible that Women with their stronger sympathies may be able
to reach this stage without intermediate steps. However this may be,
men certainly would not be able to do so; even the intellectual class,
with all its powers of generalization, would find it impossible. The
worship of Woman, begun in private, and afterwards publicly celebrated,
is necessary in man’s case to prepare him for any effectual worship of
Humanity.
No one can be so unhappy as not to be able to find some woman worthy
of his peculiar love, whether in the relation of wife or of mother;
some one who in his solitary prayer may be present to him as a fixed
object of devotion. Nor will such devotion, as might be thought,
cease with death; rather, when its object has been rightly chosen,
death strengthens it by making it more pure. The principle upon which
Positivism insists so strongly, the union of the Present with the Past,
and even with the Future, is not limited to the life of Society. It is
a doctrine which unites all individuals and all generations; and when
it has become more familiar to us, it will stimulate every one to call
his dearest memories to life; the spirit of the system being that the
private life of the very humblest citizen has a close relation to his
public duty. We all know how intellectual culture enables us to live
with our great predecessors of the Middle Ages and of Antiquity, almost
as we should do with absent friends. And if intellect can do so much,
will it not be far easier for the strong passion of Love to effect
this ideal resurrection? We have already many instances where whole
nations have shown strong sympathies or antipathies to great historical
names, especially when their influence was still sensibly felt. There
is no reason why a private life should not produce the same effect
upon those who have been brought into contact with it. Moral culture
has been conducted hitherto on such unsatisfactory principles, that
we can hardly form an adequate notion of its results when Positivism
has regenerated it, and has concentrated the affections as well as
the thoughts of Man upon human life. To live with the dead is the
peculiar privilege of Humanity, a privilege which will extend as our
conceptions widen and our thoughts become more pure. Under Positivism
the impulse to it will become far stronger, and it will be recognized
as a systematic principle in private as well as in public life. Even
the Future is not excluded from its application. We may live with those
who are not yet born; a thing impossible only till a true theory of
history had arisen, of scope sufficient to embrace at one glance the
whole course of human destiny. There are numberless instances to prove
that the heart of Man is capable of emotions which have no outward
basis, except what Imagination has supplied. The familiar spirits of
the Polytheist, the mystical desires of the Monotheist, all point to
a general tendency in the Past, which, with our better principles,
we shall be able in the Future to direct to a nobler and more real
purpose. And thus even those who may be so unfortunate as to have no
special object of love need not, on that account, be precluded from
the act of worship: they may choose from the women of the past some
type adapted to their own nature. Men of powerful imagination might
even form their own more perfect ideal, and thus open out the path
of the future. This, indeed, is what was often done by the knights
of chivalrous times, simple and uninstructed as they were. Surely
then we, with our fuller understanding and greater familiarity with
the Past, should be able to idealize more perfectly. But whether the
choice lie in the Past or in the Future, its efficacy would be impaired
unless it remained constant to one object; and fixed principles, such
as Positivism supplies, are needed to check the natural tendency to
versatility of feeling.
[The worship of Woman a
preparation for the worship
of Humanity]
I have dwelt at some length upon the personal adoration of Woman under
its real or ideal aspects, because upon it depends nearly all the moral
value of any public celebration. Public assemblage in the temples of
Humanity may strengthen and stimulate feelings of devotion, but cannot
originate them. Unless each worshipper has felt in his own person deep
and reverential love for those to whom our highest affections are due,
a public service in honour of women would be nothing but a repetition
of unmeaning formulas. But those whose daily custom it has been to
give expression to such feelings in secret, will gain, by assembling
together, all the benefit of more intense and more exalted sympathy.
In my last letter to her who is for ever mine, I said: ‘Amidst the
heaviest anxieties which Love can bring, I have never ceased to feel
that the one thing essential to happiness is that the heart shall be
always nobly occupied’.[9] And now that we are separated by Death,
daily experience confirms this truth, which is moreover in exact
accordance with the Positive theory of human nature. Without personal
experience of Love no public celebration of it can be sincere.
In its public celebration the superiority of the new Religion is even
more manifest than in the private worship. A system in which the social
spirit is uniformly preponderant, is peculiarly adapted to render
homage for the social services of the sympathetic sex. When the knights
of the Middle Ages met together, they might give vent to their personal
feelings, and express to one another the reverence which each felt for
his own mistress; but farther than this they could not go. And such
personal feelings will never cease to be necessary. Still the principal
object of public celebration is to express gratitude on the part of
the people for the social blessings conferred by Woman, as the organ
of that element in our nature on which its unity depends, and as the
original source of moral power. In the Middle Ages such considerations
were impossible, for want of a rational theory embracing the whole
circle of social relations. Indeed the received faith was incompatible
with any such conception, since God in that faith occupied the place
really due to Humanity.
[Exceptional women. Joan of
Arc]
There are women whose career has been altogether exceptional; and
these, like the rest, meet with their due tribute of praise in the
Positive system. The chief motive, doubtless, for public and private
veneration is the mission of sympathy, which is Woman’s peculiar
vocation. But there have been remarkable instances of women whose
life has been one of speculation, or even, what is in most cases
still more foreign to their nature, of political activity. They have
rendered real service to Humanity, and they should receive the honour
that is due to them. Theology, from its absolute character, could not
make such concessions; they would have weakened the efficiency of its
most important social rules. Consequently, Catholicism was compelled,
though at first with sincere regret, to leave some of the noblest
women without commemoration. A signal instance is the Maid of Orleans,
whose heroism saved France in the fifteenth century. Our great king
Louis XI applied very properly to the Pope for her canonization, and
no objection was made to his request. Yet, practically, it was never
carried into effect. It was gradually forgotten; and the clergy soon
came to feel a sort of dislike to her memory, which reminded them
of nothing but their own social weakness. It is easy to account for
this result; nor is any one really to blame for it. It was feared,
not without reason, that to consider Joan of Arc as a saint might
have the effect of spreading false and dangerous ideas of feminine
duty. The difficulty was insuperable for any absolute system, in
which to sanction the exception is to compromise the rule. But in a
relative system the case is different. It is even more inconsistent
with Positive principles than it is with Catholic, for women to lead
a military life, a life which of all others is the least compatible
with their proper functions. And yet Positivists will be the first to
do justice to this extraordinary heroine, whom theologians have been
afraid to recognize, and whom metaphysicians, even in France, have had
the hardihood to insult. The anniversary of her glorious martyrdom will
be a solemn festival, not only for France, but for Western Europe.
For her work was not merely of national importance: the enslavement
of France would have involved the loss of all the influence which
France has exercised as the centre of the advanced nations of Europe.
Moreover, as none of them are altogether clear from the disgrace of
detracting, as Voltaire has done, from her character, all should aid
in the reparation of it which Positivism proposes to institute. So far
from her apotheosis having an injurious effect on female character,
it will afford an opportunity of pointing out the anomalous nature of
her career, and the rarity of the conditions which alone could justify
it. It is a fresh proof of the advantages accruing to Morality from
the relative character of Positivism, which enables it to appreciate
exceptional cases without weakening the rules.
The subject of the worship of Woman by Man raises a question of much
delicacy; how to satisfy the analogous feelings of devotion in the
other sex. We have seen its necessity for men as an intermediate step
towards the worship of Humanity; and women, stronger though their
sympathies are, stand, it may be, in need of similar preparation.
Yet certainly the direction taken should be somewhat different. What
is wanted is that each sex should strengthen the moral qualities in
which it is naturally deficient. Energy is a characteristic feature of
Humanity as well as Sympathy; as is well shown by the double meaning
of the word _Heart_. In Man Sympathy is the weaker element, and it
requires constant exercise. This he gains by expression of his feelings
of reverence for Woman. In Woman, on the other hand, the defective
quality is Energy; so that, should any special preparation for the
worship of Humanity be needed, it should be such as to strengthen
courage rather than sympathy. But my sex renders me incompetent to
enter farther into the secret wants of Woman’s heart. Theory indicates
a blank hitherto unnoticed, but does not enable me to fill it. It is a
problem for women themselves to solve; and I had reserved it for my
noble colleague, for whose premature death I would fain hope that my
own grief may one day be shared by all.
Throughout this chapter I have been keenly sensible of the philosophic
loss resulting from our objective separation. True, I have been able
to show that Positivism is a matter of the deepest concern to women,
since it incorporates them in the progressive movement of modern
times. I have proved that the part allotted to them in this movement
is one which satisfies their highest aspirations for the Family or
for Society. And yet I can hardly hope for much support from them
until some woman shall come forward to interpret what I have said into
language more adapted to their nature and habits of thought. Till
then it will always be taken for granted that they are incapable even
of understanding the new philosophy, notwithstanding all the natural
affinities for it which I have shown that they possess.
All these difficulties had been entirely removed by the noble and
loving friend to whom I dedicate the treatise to which this work is
introductory. The dedication is unusual in form, and some may think it
overstrained. But my own fear is rather, now that five years have past,
that my words were too weak for the deep gratitude which I now feel for
her elevating influence. Without it the moral aspects of Positivism
would have lain very long latent.
Clotilde de Vaux was gifted equally in mind and heart: and she had
already begun to feel the power of the new philosophy to raise feminine
influence from the decline into which it had fallen, under the
revolutionary influences of modern times. Misunderstood everywhere,
even by her own family, her nature was far too noble for bitterness.
Her sorrows were as exceptional as they were undeserved; but her
purity was even more rare than her sorrow; and it preserved her
unscathed from all sophistical attacks on marriage, even before the
true theory of marriage had come before her. In the only writing
which she published[10], there is a beautiful remark, which to those
who know the history of her life is deeply affecting: ‘Great natures
should always be above bringing their sorrows upon others’. In this
charming story, written before she knew anything of Positivism, she
expressed herself most characteristically on the subject of Woman’s
vocation: ‘Surely the true sphere of Woman is to provide Man with the
comforts and delights of home, receiving in exchange from him the means
of subsistence earned by his labours. I would rather see the mother
of a poor family washing her children’s linen, than see her earning a
livelihood by her talents away from home. Of course I do not speak of
women of extraordinary powers whose genius leads them out of the sphere
of domestic duty. Such natures should have free scope given to them:
for great minds are kindled by the exhibition of their powers’. These
words coming from a young lady distinguished no less for beauty than
for worth, showed her antipathy to the subversive ideas so prevalent in
the present day. But in a large work which she did not live to finish,
she had intended to refute the attacks upon marriage, contained in
the works of George Sand, to whom she was intellectually no less than
morally superior. Her nature was of rare endowment, moved by noble
impulse, and yet allowing its due influence to reason. When she was
beginning to study Positivism she wrote to me: ‘No one knows better
than myself how weak our nature is unless it has some lofty aim beyond
the reach of passion’. A short time afterwards, writing with all the
graceful freedom of friendship, she let fall a phrase of deep meaning,
almost unawares: ‘Our race is one which must have duties, in order to
form its feelings’.
With such a nature my Saint Clotilde was, as may be supposed, fully
conscious of the moral value of Positivism, though she had only one
year to give to its study. A few months before her death, she wrote
to me: ‘If I were a man, I should be your enthusiastic disciple; as a
woman, I can but offer you my cordial admiration’. In the same letter
she explains the part which she proposed to take in diffusing the
principles of the new philosophy: ‘It is always well for a woman to
follow modestly behind the army of renovators, even at the risk of
losing a little of her own originality’. She describes our intellectual
anarchy in this charming simile: ‘We are all standing as yet with one
foot in the air over the threshold of truth’.
[It is for women to
introduce Positivism into
the Southern nations]
With such a colleague, combining as she did qualities hitherto shared
amongst the noblest types of womanhood, it would have been easy to
induce her sex to co-operate in the regeneration of society. For she
gave a perfect example of that normal reaction of Feeling upon Reason
which has been here set forward as the highest aim of Woman’s efforts.
When she had finished the important work on which she was engaged, I
had marked out for her a definite yet spacious field of co-operation
in the Positivist cause: a field which her intellect and character
were fully competent to occupy. I mention it here, to illustrate the
mode in which women may help to spread Positivism through the West;
giving thus the first example of the social influence which they will
afterwards exert permanently. What I say has special reference to Italy
and to Spain. In other countries it only applies to individuals who,
though living in an atmosphere of free thought, have not themselves
ventured to think freely. Success in this latter case is so frequent,
as to make me confident that the agencies of which I am about to speak
may be applied collectively with the same favourable result.
The intellectual freedom of the West began in England and Germany;
and it had all the dangers of original efforts for which at that time
no systematic basis could be found. With the legal establishment of
Protestantism, the metaphysical movement stopped. Protestantism, by
consolidating it, seriously impeded subsequent progress, and is still,
in the countries where it prevails, the chief obstacle to all efficient
renovation. Happily France, the normal centre of Western Europe, was
spared this so-called Reformation. She made up for the delay, by
passing at one stride, under the impulse given by Voltaire, to a state
of entire freedom of thought; and thus resumed her natural place as
leader of the common movement of social regeneration. But the French
while escaping the inconsistencies and oscillations of Protestantism,
have been exposed to all the dangers resulting from unqualified
acceptance of revolutionary metaphysics. Principles of systematic
negation have now held their ground with us too long. Useful as they
once were in preparing the way for social reconstruction, they are
now a hindrance to it. It may be hoped that when the movement of free
thought extends, as it assuredly will, to the two Southern nations,
where Catholicism has been more successful in resisting Protestantism
and Deism, it will be attended with less injurious consequences.
If France was spared the Calvinistic stage, there seems no reason
why Italy and even Spain should not be spared Voltairianism. As a
compensation for this apparent stagnation, they might pass at once from
Catholicism to Positivism, without halting for any length of time at
the negative stage. These countries could not have originated the new
philosophy, owing to their insufficient preparation; but as soon as it
has taken root in France, they will probably accept it with extreme
rapidity. Direct attacks upon Catholicism will not be necessary. The
new religion will simply put itself into competition with the old by
performing in a better way the same functions that Catholicism fulfils
now, or has fulfilled in past times.
All evidence, especially the evidence of the poets, goes to prove
that before Luther’s time, there was less belief in the South of
Europe, certainly less in Italy, than in the North. And Catholicism,
with all its resistance to the progress of thought, has never been
able really to revive the belief in Christianity. We speak of Italy
and Spain as less advanced; but the truth is that they only cling to
Catholicism because it satisfies their moral and social wants better
than any system with which they are acquainted. Morally they have more
affinity to Positivism than other nations; because their feelings of
fraternity have not been weakened by the industrial development which
has done so much harm in Protestant countries. Intellectually, too,
they are less hostile to the primary principle of Positive Polity; the
separation of spiritual and temporal power. And therefore they will
welcome Positivism as soon as they see that in all essential features
it equals and surpasses the mediaeval church. Now as this question is
almost entirely a moral one, their convictions in this respect will
depend far more upon Feeling than upon argument. Consequently, the work
of converting them to Positivism is one for which women are peculiarly
adapted. Positivism has been communicated to England by men. Holland,
too, which has been the vanguard of Germany ever since the Middle Ages
has been initiated in the same way still more efficiently. But its
introduction in Italy and Spain will depend upon the women of those
countries; and the appeal to them must come, not from a Frenchman, but
from a Frenchwoman; for heart must speak to heart. Would that these few
words might enable others to appreciate the inestimable worth of the
colleague whom I had intended to write such an appeal; and that they
might stimulate some one worthy to take her place!
Already, then, there is ground for encouragement. Already we have one
striking instance of a woman ready to co-operate in the philosophical
movement, which assigns to her sex a mission of the highest social
consequence as the prelude to the function for which in the normal
state they are destined. Such an instance, though it may seem now
exceptional, does but anticipate what will one day be universal.
Highly gifted natures pass through the same phases as others; only
they undergo them earlier, and so become guides for the rest. The
sacred friend of whom I speak had nothing that specially disposed her
to accept Positivism, except the beauty of her mind and character,
prematurely ripened by sorrow. Had she been an untaught working woman,
it would perhaps have been still easier for her to grasp the general
spirit of the new philosophy and its social purpose.
The result of this chapter is to show the affinity of the systematic
element of the modifying power, as represented by philosophers, with
women who form its sympathetic element; an affinity not less close
than that with the people, who constitute its synergic element. The
organization of moral force is based on the alliance of philosophers
with the people; but the adhesion of women is necessary to its
completion. With the union of all three, the regeneration of society
begins, and the revolution is brought to a close. But more than this:
their union is at once an inauguration of the final order of society.
Each of these three elements will be acting as it will be called
upon to act in the normal state, and will be occupying its permanent
position relatively to the temporal power. The philosophic class whose
work it is to combine the action of the other two classes, will find
valuable assistance from women in every family, as well as powerful
co-operation from the people in every city.
The result will be a union of all who are precluded from political
administration, instituted for the purpose of judging all practical
measures by the fixed rules of universal morality. Exceptional cases
will arise when moral influence is insufficient: in these it will be
necessary for the people to interfere actively. But philosophers and
women are dispensed from such interference. Direct action would be most
injurious to their powers of sympathy or of thought. They can only
preserve these powers by keeping clear of all positions of political
authority.
But while the moral force resulting from the combined action of women
and of the people, will be more efficient than that of the Middle Ages,
the systematic organs of that force will find their work one of great
difficulty. High powers of intellect are required and a heart worthy of
such intellect. To secure the support of women, and the co-operation
of the people, they must have the sympathy and purity of the first,
the energy and disinterestedness of the second. Such natures are rare;
yet without them the new spiritual power cannot obtain that ascendancy
over society to which Positivism aspires. And with all the agencies,
physical or moral, which can be brought to bear, we shall have to
acknowledge that the exceeding imperfections of human nature form
an eternal obstacle to the object for which Positivism strives, the
victory of social sympathy over self-love.