OF SOCIETY. 463 



what is now specifically termed the Social question, and 

 we have also, as a result brought about by the influence of 

 both sides, the distinct enunciation of a new and special 

 science with a special name, that of Sociology ; further, 

 we have the first distinct declaration that it deals with 

 the central and most important problem in philosophy. 



The first of the two schools referred to may be termed 33. 



Reaction- 



the Eeactionary school. It was the school which. was 5 ry T | cho , , 1 



i de Bonald 



favoured by the Eestoration. Its philosophical ex- MaLtre. 

 ponents were de Bonald (1754-1840) and de Maistre 

 (1754-1821). Both belonged to the aristocracy of 

 France. The title of de Bonald's principal work, 

 ' Theorie du pouvoir politique et religieux dans la 

 societ^ civilisee ' [1796], indicates clearly the subject 

 he is dealing with. For de Bonald the Order of Society 

 is not a thing created by men, but is of Divine origin, 

 not simply composed of individual units added together, 

 but an association instituted by the Creator and organ- 

 ised by His law. This stands in direct opposition to the 

 theory of the natural rights of man as proclaimed by the 

 Revolution in 1789. 1 The general conception, which has 



1 And it also stands in direct 



doing so ' is led by an invisible 



opposition to that prominent phase hand' to promote the public good, 

 in modern thought represented by \ which was no part of his intention ; 



such very different thinkers as 

 Rousseau on the one side and Adam 

 Smith on the other ; the belief in 

 the natural goodness of man and 

 the assumption, not clearly brought 

 out but implied, in Adam Smith's 

 ethical and economic theories, of 

 a natural justice, a jus natures. 

 " In his view nature has made pro- 

 vision for social wellbeing by the 

 principle of the human constitution, 

 which prompts every man to better 

 his position ; the individual aims 



only at his private gain, but in ! cit., p. 91). 



human institutions, by interfering 

 with the action of this principle in 

 the name of the public interest, 

 defeat their own end ; but when all 

 systems of preference or restraint 

 are taken away, ' the obvious and 

 simple system of natural liberty 

 establishes itself of its own accord.' 

 This theory is not explicitly pre- 

 sented by Smith as a foundation of 

 his economic doctrines, but it is 

 really the secret substratum on 

 which they rest." (Ingram, loc. 



