Biology Reference
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of their laws.” As each science moved toward its positivist culmination, its
explanations would arise solely from the application of reason and observa-
tion to establish a simple “connection between single phenomena and some
general facts, the number of which continually diminishes with the progress
of science.”
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The fact that Saint-Simon and Comte regarded this synthetic rational-
ity as the real substance of religion never stopped them from adopting many
of the traditional symbols of Christianity. Even as he attacked the Catholic
Church in his
Nouveau Christianisme
, Saint-Simon made bold to assert that
this was because he spoke for the true church. He dramatized this by using
the device of
prosopopoeia
, by bringing Martin Luther up from the grave to
speak on his behalf, as if to show that this great reformer, were he alive,
would be certain to take his side. Speaking through Luther, Saint-Simon
warned the bishop of Rome that if he continued “to put forward mystical
ideas,” a new priesthood of “artists, scientists and industrialists” would rise
up against him, a new Reformation that would “open the eyes of the com-
mon people to the absurdity of your doctrines, to the monstrous abuse of
your power, and you will then have no resource to maintain your place in
society except to become the instruments of the temporal power.”
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Such a
manner of speech might seem contrary to the epistemic ideals of positivism,
but it is quite consistent with the historical dimension of this philosophy. By
putting his own renunciation of mysticism in Luther's mouth and Luther's
language, Saint-Simon reinforced the premise of evolutionary continuity.
Although we can be sure that Luther would have meant something else had
he in fact spoken these words, the formal similarity they bear to the lan-
guage of Protestant reform sustains the impression that it shared a common
substance of meaning with positivism.
The attraction of this religiosity for the classical positivists is also wit-
nessed by the greater prevalence and urgency it achieved in the most mature
writings of both Saint-Simon and Comte. In the final paragraph of Saint-
Simon's final work, his
Nouveau Christianisme
, he even goes so far as to pres-
ent himself as God's oracle.
Hearken to the voice of God which speaks through me. Return to the
path of Christianity; no longer regard mercenary armies, the nobility,
the heretical priests and perverse judges, as your principle support, but,
united in the name of Christianity, understand how to carry out the
duties which Christianity imposes on those who possess power. Remem-
ber that Christianity commands you to use all your powers to increase as
rapidly as possible the social welfare of the poor!
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