COMTE.
What thought Auguste Comte, who died in September, 1857.
To solve this question, it is necessary first to divide the man into two
parts; not as the wise king Solomon designed to divide the child disputed
for by two mothers, but in thought, by making of him two distinct men; a
philosopher and a revealer.
M. Comte, who denied and insulted his master, Saint Simon, is only the
popularizer of his recently edited works: so much for the rational phase.
What belongs to him exclusively is a socio-religious organization, which
cannot be the work of a healthy mind.
What belongs to him exclusively, is a heavy, dry, insulting style,
arrogant to the point of being revolting, loaded and overloaded with
adjectives and adverbs.
What belongs to him exclusively, are a few ideas that he has submerged in
volumes, containing not less than from seven hundred and fifty to eight
hundred pages, in small type. I do not advise you to peruse them,
readers, unless in your heart and soul you believe yourself deserving of
many years of purgatory, which you prefer to expiate on the earth ... I
do not know whether I ought to say above or below, since astronomy has
reversed the positions of the material and spiritual worlds.
The disciples of Comte are divided into two schools: that of the
Positivist Philosophers, and that of the Priesthood.
The first reject the religious organization of Comte, and are in reality
nothing but the children of modern Philosophy, and very estimable
adversaries of that nebulous thing which is called Metaphysics. We could
not therefore have them in sight in this article; so, let not M. Littré
and his honorable friends frown in reading us: we are about to find fault
only with the high priest and his priesthood.
The doctrine of Comte concerning woman being connected with the whole of
his religious system, let us first say a word about this system.
_There is no God; there is no soul_: the object of our adoration should
be Humanity, represented by the best of our species....
There are three social elements: woman, priest, and man.
Woman is the moral providence, the guardian of morals.
Had it not been for the wholly mystical love, I willingly believe, that
Comte had for Madame Clotilde de Vaux, it is probable that woman would
not have been the _moral Providence_; thanks to this love, she is nothing
less than this. We will see that neither is she anything more.
Of a nature superior to that of man (in the opinion of Comte), she is
nevertheless subject to him, in consequence of a philosophical paradox
which we need not refute here.
The function of woman is to render man _moral_; a task which she can
perform well only in private life; all social and sacerdotal functions
are therefore interdicted her.
She should be _preserved from labor_, should renounce dowry and
inheritance; man is charged with maintaining her; daughter, she is
supported by her father or her brothers; wife, by her husband; widow, by
her sons. In default of her natural maintainers, the state, _on the
requisition of the priesthood_, provides for her wants.
Marriage is instituted for the perfecting of the married couple, above
all, for that of the man: the reproduction of the species has so little
to do with its end, that the progress of science permits us to hope that,
some day, woman will be able _alone_ to reproduce humanity, so as to
realize and to generalize the hypothesis of the Virgin Mother. Then it
will be possible to regulate human production, by entrusting to none but
the most deserving women the task of conceiving children and bringing
them into the world, especially members of the priesthood.
Divorce is not permitted, and widowhood is eternal for both sexes.
Such, in brief, is the Comtist doctrine concerning woman, marriage and
procreation. As the reader might suspect us of malicious exaggeration, we
entreat him to read attentively the following pages, emanating from the
pen of the originator of the system.
According to him, women have never demanded their emancipation; the men
who claim it for them are, after Comte's usual courteous style, nothing
but _utopists corrupted by retrogression_. "All transitional ages,' he
says, "have given rise, like our own, to sophistical aberrations
concerning the social condition of woman. But the natural law which
assigns to the effective sex an existence essentially domestic, has never
been materially altered.... Women were then (in antiquity) too low to
reject worthily, even by their silence, the doctoral aberrations of their
pretended defenders.... But among the moderns, the happy liberty of the
western women permits them to manifest a decisive repugnance which is
sufficient, in default of rational ratification, to neutralize these
wanderings of the mind, _inspired by the intemperance of the heart_.
"Without discussing unreal retrograde utopias, it is of importance to
feel, the better to appreciate real order, that if women should ever
obtain this temporal equality demanded, without their consent, by their
pretended defenders, their social guaranties would suffer thereby as much
as their moral character. For they would find themselves thus subjected,
in the majority of occupations, to an active daily competition which they
could not sustain, while at the same time the practical rivalry would
corrupt the principal sources of mutual affection. Man should support
woman, such is the natural law of our species."--_Politique Positive_, t.
I.
"It is necessary to consider the just independence of the affective sex
as founded upon two connected conditions, its universal affranchisement
from labor outside the household, and its free renunciation of all
wealth....
"Domestic priestesses of humanity, born to modify by affection the
necessary reign of force, they should shun, as radically degrading, all
participation in command."--_Id._ t. IV.
"The moral degradation appears to me still greater when woman enriches
herself by her own labor. The continued eagerness of gain makes her then
lose even that spontaneous kindness which preserves the other type in the
midst of its dissipations.
"No worse industrial chiefs can exist than women."--_Caté._ _Pos._
So ladies, ye who prefer labor to prostitution, who pass days and nights
in providing for the wants of your family, it is understood of course
that you _are degraded_; a woman ought not to do anything; respect and
honor belong to idleness.
You, Victoria of England, Isabella of Spain,--you command, therefore you
_are radically degraded_.
M. Comte pretends that masculine superiority is incontestable in all that
concerns the properly called "source of command ... that the intellect of
man is stronger, more extended than that of woman.
"A healthy appreciation of the universal order will make the affective
sex comprehend how important _submission_ is to dignity.
"The priesthood will make women feel the merit of _submission_, by
developing this _admirable_ maxim of Aristotle: _the chief strength of
woman consists in surmounting the difficulty of obeying_; their education
will have prepared them to comprehend that all dominion, far from really
elevating, necessarily degrades them, by depreciating their chief worth
so as to expect from strength the ascendancy which is due to love
alone."--_Ibid._
Here are a few pages from the system of Politique Positive, t. IV., which
are too curious not to interest the reader.
"The better to characterize feminine independence, I think it best to
introduce a bold hypothesis, which human progress perhaps will realize,
although it is my business neither to examine when nor how.
"If the masculine apparatus contributes to our generation only after a
simple excitement, derived from its organic destination, the possibility
may be conceived of replacing this stimulant _by another or several
others, of which the woman would dispose at will_. The absence of such a
faculty among the neighboring species cannot be sufficient to interdict
it to the most eminent and most modifiable race....
"If feminine independence can ever reach this limit, in accordance with
the sum total of moral, intellectual, and even material progress, the
social function of the affective sex will be found notably improved. Then
all fluctuation between the animal appreciation which still prevails, and
the noble doctrine systematized by positivism, would cease. The most
essential production (that of our species) would become independent of
the caprices of a perturbating instinct, the normal repression of which
has hitherto constituted the principal obstacle to human discipline. Such
a privilege would be naturally found transferred, with full
responsibility, to the organs best fitted to its use, alone capable of
guarding themselves from vicious impulses, so as to realize all the
advantages that it permits."
Which means in good English, my female readers, that perhaps the time
will come when you will create children without the co-operation of these
gentlemen; that this function will be confided to those among you who
shall be most worthy of it, and that they will be held responsible for
the imperfection of the product.
"Thenceforth," resumes the author, "the utopia of the Virgin Mother will
become to the purest and most eminent an ideal goal, directly suited to
sum up human perfection, thus carried even to systematizing procreation,
while ennobling it.... Success depends most of all on the general
development of the relations between the soul and the body, its continued
search (that of the problem of fruitful virginity) will worthily
institute the systematic study of vital harmony, by procuring to it at
once the noblest aim and the best organs."--_Ibid._
Translated: the study of the relations of the brain with the body will
lead us to discover the means of procreating children without the
co-operation of man; this is the noblest aim of this study, as the
faculty of being a virgin mother should be the ideal which the purest and
most eminent women should seek to attain.
"Thus," continues M. Comte, "I am led to represent the utopia of the
Virgin Mother as the synthetic résume of positive religion, all the
phases of which it combines."--_Ibid._
Translation: To procreate children without the concurrence of man, _sums
up positive religion, and combines all its phases_.
This may be very fine, but as to being _rational_ and _positive_--what do
you think, readers?
"The rationality of the problem," adds the author, "is founded upon the
determination of the true office of the masculine apparatus, designed
especially to supply to the blood an excitative fluid, capable of
strengthening all the vital operations, whether animal or organic. In
comparison with this general service, the special use of the fecundative
stimulus becomes more and more secondary in proportion as the organism is
elevated. It may thus be conceived that in the noblest species, this
liquid ceases to be indispensable to the awakening of the germ, which may
result artificially from several other, and even from material sources,
especially from a better reaction of the nervous upon the vascular
system."--_Ibid._
All this would be possible, I grant, _if_ the fluid of which you speak,
High Priest, had, above all, the general function which you attribute to
it;
_If_ the reproduction of our species by the co-operation of the two sexes
were not a _law_;
_If_ we could preserve a species while destroying its law;
_If_ facts did not contradict the possibility of the hypothesis.
Now, to place an _if_ before a natural law and the phenomena which are
its expression, is only a gross absurdity: we explain laws, we do not
reform them without profoundly modifying the being that they govern; we
do not destroy without destroying this being: for the individual being is
_the law in form_.
The author dwells as follows on the consequences of the absurd
hypothesis.
"Thence it may be conceived that civilization not only disposes man
better to appreciate woman, but augments the participation of this sex in
human reproduction, which ought, finally, _to emanate from it alone_.
"Regarded individually, such a modification ought to improve the cerebral
and corporal constitution of both sexes, by developing therein continued
chastity, the importance of which has been felt more and more by
universal instinct, even during irregularities.--p. 277.
"Considered domestically, this transformation would render the
constitution of the human family more in conformity with the general
spirit of sociocracy, by completing the just emancipation of woman, thus
made, even physically, independent of man. The normal ascendancy of the
affective sex would be no longer contestable with respect to children
_emanated from it exclusively_.
"But the principal result would consist in perfecting the fundamental
institution of marriage (the improvement of the married couple without
sexual motive), the positive theory of which would then become
unexceptionable. Thus purified, the conjugal tie would experience an
amelioration as marked as when Polygamy was replaced by Monogamy: for we
should generalize the utopia of the Middle Age, in which Maternity was
reconciled with Virginity.
"Regarded civilly, this institution alone permits the regulation of the
most important of productions, which can never become sufficiently
susceptible of systematization, so long as it shall be accomplished in
delirium and without responsibility.
"Reserved to its best organs, this function would perfect the human race
by better determining the transmission of ameliorations due to external
influences, both social and personal.... Systematic procreation coming to
remain more or less concentrated among the better types, the comparison
of the two cases would give rise not only to valuable enlightenment, but
also to an important institution which would procure to sociocracy the
principal advantage of theocracy. For the development of the new mode
would soon cause a non-hereditary caste to spring up, better adapted than
the common populace _for the recruital of spiritual and even temporal
chiefs_, whose authority would then rest on a truly _superior_ origin,
which would not shun investigation.
All these indications will suffice to show the value of the utopia of the
Virgin Mother, destined to procure to Positivism a synthetic résume,
equivalent to that which the institution of the Eucharist furnishes to
Catholicism."--_Ibid._
It is much to be feared, alas! that the disciples of this great man,
however ardent seekers of _vital harmony_ they may be, will never find
the _synthetic résume_ of Positivism, the _equivalent_ of the Eucharist:
and it will be a great pity: to order children as we order shoes, and
leave them on the mother's hands when they do not suit, would be very
convenient.
And what, I ask you, will the future leaders of humanity do, if they can
only obtain respect and obedience on the condition of proving that they
are _sons of virgins_?
But we will not jest with so grave a personage as the High Priest of
Humanity: we will only say in passing, that never was atheist seen to
show himself more profoundly a Christian through contempt for works of
the flesh. Hear what he says on page 286 of the work before cited:
"Useless to individual conservation, the sexual instinct co-operates only
in an _accessory and even equivocal_ manner to the propagation of the
species. Philosophers truly freed from superstition should regard it more
and more as tending above all to disturb the principal design of the
vivifying fluid. But without waiting for the feminine utopia to be
realized, we may determine, _if not the atrophy, at least the inertia of
this cerebral superfoetation_, with more facility than is indicated by
the insufficient efforts of theologism. While positive education will
make the vices of such an instinct everywhere felt, and _will raise up
the continued hope of its desuetude_, the whole final system ought
naturally to institute a revulsive treatment with respect to it, more
efficacious than Catholic austerities. For the universal aspiration of
domestic existence and of public life will develop the sympathetic
faculties to such a degree, that sentiment, intellect, and activity will
always concur to stigmatize and repress the most perturbing of selfish
propensities."
Despite all this _aspiration_, and all these stigmas, do not trust to it,
High Priest! Be advised by me, use camphor, and plenty of it; scatter it
everywhere as a certain Amphitryon scattered nutmeg.
It is in prevision of the excommunications hurled by you against this
_vile_, this _useless_ instinct, that Nature has been prodigal of
camphor.
Upon the whole, you see, my female readers, that if M. Comte believes us
weaker than man in body, mind, and character, in return, he believes us
better.
We are moral providence, guardian angels: he dreams of affranchisement
for us through the subversion of a natural law.
But meanwhile he places us under the yoke of man by exempting us from
labor;
He rivets our chains by persuading us cajolingly to despoil ourselves of
our property;
He says to us in the gentlest voice imaginable: never command: it would
degrade you;
Your great strength is in obeying him whom _it is your destiny to
direct_.
You will be naught in the temple, naught in the state.
In the family, you are domestic priestesses, the auxiliaries of the
priesthood.
Three sacraments out of nine are refused you: that of destiny, because,
for you, it is confounded with that of marriage; that of retirement,
because you have no profession; lastly, that of incorporation, because a
woman cannot, in herself, merit a personal and public apotheosis.
If you have been worthy auxiliaries, you shall be interred near those
whom you shall have influenced, like their other useful auxiliaries: the
horse, the dog, the cow, and the ass; and mention shall be made of you
when honors shall be paid to the member of humanity to whom you shall
have belonged.
Shall we refute such doctrines? No. Our answer to them finds a fitter
place in the article devoted to M. Proudhon, who has drawn largely from
the doctrine of M. Comte.
As to the priests who continue the teachings of their master, it suffices
to refer them to what I said to M. Comte in the _Revue Philosophique_ of
December, 1855.
The women of the present time are in general intelligent, because they
receive an education superior to that of their mothers. The majority of
them devote themselves to an active life either in the arts or the
trades; men acknowledge them as their competitors in these, and even
confess that they are superior in management. No man, worthy of the name,
would dare contest that woman is his equal, and that the day of her civil
emancipation is close at hand.
Women, on their side, more independent and more deserving, without having
lost anything of their grace and gentleness, no longer accept the famous
axiom: _man should support woman_; still less do they accept the
_admirable_ maxim of Aristotle, fit for the slaves of the gyneceum. Be
sure that every _true_ woman will laugh at the raiment of clouds which
you pretend to give her, at the incense with which you wish to asphyxiate
her; for she cares no longer for adoration. She wishes to carry her
intellect and activity unfettered into spheres suited to her aptitudes;
she wishes to aid her brother, man, in clearing up the field of theory,
the domain of practice; she claims that every human being is the judge of
his own aptitudes; she does not recognize in any man or in any doctrine
the right of fixing her place, and of marking out her road. Through the
labor of war was the patriciate constituted; through peaceful labor was
servitude emancipated; _through labor_, also, does woman claim to conquer
her civil rights.
Such is what many women are, what they wish to be to-day; see if it is
not madness to seek to revive the gyneceum and the atrium for these
women, impregnated with the ideas of the eighteenth century, wrought upon
by the ideas of '89 and of the modern reformers. To say to such women
that they shall have no place in the state, nor in marriage, nor in
science, nor in art, nor in the trades, nor even in your subjective
paradise, is something so monstrous that I cannot conceive, for my part,
how aberration could go so far.
You will no longer find an interlocutress to say: "that a woman can
scarcely ever deserve a personal and public apotheosis ... that views
involving the fullest experience and the profoundest reflection are
_naturally interdicted_ to the sex whose contemplations can scarcely go
beyond the circle of private life _with success_ ... that _the moral
degradation of woman is_ _still greater when she enriches herself by her
own labor_ ... that there are no worse industrial chiefs than women...."
And if any woman behind the times should be so imbecile and immodest as
to hold such language, all men of any worth whatever would regard her
only with disdain.
But you, who wish to annihilate woman, from what principle do you draw
such a consequence? That she is an affective power, you say ... yes, but,
as to that, man is such, likewise; and is not woman, as well as he, alike
intellect and activity? By reason of a purely accidental predominance,
can one half of the human species be banished beyond the clouds of
sentimentality? And ought not all serious discipline to tend to develop,
not one phase of the being, but the ponderation, the harmony of all its
phases? Want of harmony is the source of disorder and deformity. The
woman who is solely sentimental commits irreparable errors; the man who
is solely rational is a species of monster, and the person in whom
activity predominates is but a brute. Since you believe in Gall and
Spurzheim, you know that the encephalon of the two sexes is alike, that
it is modifiable in both, that all education is founded on this
modificability; why has it never occurred to you that if man _en masse_
is more rational than woman, it is because education, laws and custom
have developed in him the anterior lobes of the brain; while in woman,
education, laws and custom develop especially the posterior lobes of this
organ; and why, having established these facts, have you not been led to
conclude that, since organs are developed only in consequence of the
excitants applied to them, it is probable that man and woman, subjected
to the same cerebral excitants, would be developed in the same manner,
with the shades of difference peculiar to each individuality; and that
for woman to be developed harmoniously under her three aspects, she must
manifest herself socially under three aspects? Be sure, sir, your
principle is thrice false, thrice in contradiction to science and reason;
in the presence of the physiology of the brain, all theories of
classification fall to the ground: before the nervous system, women are
the equals of men: they can be their inferiors only before muscular
supremacy, attacked by the invention of powder, and about to be reduced
to dust by the triumph of mechanism.
I should say many more things to you, sir, were not this critical sketch
too long already; but imperfect though it may be, having to my mind only
the meaning of a woman's protest against your doctrines, I shall pause
here.