47^ Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



There is a radical inconsistency between the conscious and the 

 unconscious thought in Comte's mind. As far as he was conscious 

 of his procedure, he thought that the mind could be ignored, that 

 thought that was merely immanent and potential was nothing, that 

 progress transcending individual self-dependence is impossible. But, 

 without being thoroughly aware of it, he felt that the mind was the 

 most important thing in the world, that it was more than its own 

 actuality, that the realisable ideal, which is no- more than the fullest 

 expression of its essential nature, implied the breaking down of the 

 walls of individual confinements, and that finally it transcended the 

 absolute opposition beween itself and the world, and necessitated 

 the extension of its own subjective synthesis to the whole of objec- 

 tivity. This is a matter of fundamental importance. Owing to the 

 limitation of his conscious theory, he ignored methodology, adopted 

 a mechanical and fruitless method, and having acknowledged an 

 ideal, his conception of which contains more truth than his general 

 system, but involves the temporary abandonment of his fundamental 

 presupix)sitions, he sought to realise it by mechanical means, which 

 were consonant with his presuppositions, but lead in any direction 

 but that of the ideal which is their supposed objective. 



A true sociology must learn tO' beware of the fate of Comte. It 

 must begin with a clear conception of the method of proof, and 

 must base it.self on ideology. It will not deny the characteristic 

 preconception of causation ; it will trace out in the positive spirit the 

 essential laws of the mind. It will demand an absolute synthesis, 

 and it will find the only true synthesis in a theor}' of dynamic im- 

 manence. Applying this to psychology, it will substitute organic for 

 mechanical conceptions; it will thus be able to explain and analyse 

 the feeling of sociological ethics, and the ideal which it produces, 

 and it will determine the means of attaining the ideal end by study- 

 ing the sociological and socionomic factors affecting each case. 



There is an air of finality about Comte's writings which suggests 

 that he had some a priori method of argument which no evidence 

 can rebut, and we have seen that to some extent Comte actually 

 believed this, and to a great extent deduced what he considered 

 sociological laws out of the generalisms of other sciences. But 

 when we turn tO' Comte's detailed suggestions we see at once that he 

 was a Frenchman and a citizen of the old world. Young countries are 

 in many ways the best test of sociological theories. Comte was 

 hostile to all colonial systems, and fancied that he saw them break- 

 ing up everywhere. (Pol. IV., 519.) In revenge we may say that 

 the circumstances of the colonies do much to disprove Comte's 

 theories. For they do' not square with Comte's views, and if we 

 must choose between the colonies and Comte, it would be prepos- 

 terous to abandon the former. On Comte's shewing, there could be 

 no reason for moral condemnation. By any other method we should 

 be led to an appreciation of their value.. 



Comte never mentions the colonies with approbation. They 

 served, he says, to complete the corruption of the Christian priest, 

 who .seconded oppression in the colonies by absurd sophistries. 



