534 PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



earlier societies. The beginnings of this view are to be 

 found in the writings of Herder, but it has had its most 

 influential exponent in Hegel. Though originally merely 

 a speculation, it found both a theoretical and a practical 

 application ; the former in the philosophy of history and 

 in the ideal treatment of the historical narrative ; the 

 latter through the position which Hegel took up to the 

 political questions of the day, of the age and state in 

 which he lived. 



The second is the philosophy of Auguste Comte, in 

 which sociology, as a special region of research, for the 

 first time receives full recognition. It was prepared by 

 the suggestive but abortive attempts in the direction of 

 social reform which followed in the wake of the French 

 Eevolution. This sociological view has two distinct 

 characteristics. It is based upon a philosophy of 

 history, illustrating, in the main, an intellectual feature 

 of human progress as expressed in the Law of the Three 

 States ; its second characteristic is, that it takes for 

 granted, as an empirical fact, the existence of two 

 tendencies in human nature, the egoistic and the 

 altruistic, of which the latter, either naturally and un- 

 consciously or assisted by intellectual knowledge and 

 control, is gradually gaining the ascendancy over the 

 former. 



The third important contribution to the solution 

 of the social problem is the philosophy of evolution 

 usually identified with the name of Herbert Spencer, 

 but probably more indebted to the introduction of 

 Darwinian ideas than is usually admitted. This view 

 regards social relations, following upon biological and 



