OF SOCIETY. 565 



of opposition and the law of adaptation. In the sequel 

 he is led to oppose especially the fundamental concep- 

 tion of Herbert Spencer. Instead of finding with the 

 latter the beginning of things social or natural in a 

 homogeneous instability, he says " all that constitutes 

 the visible universe, accessible to our observation, we 

 know proceeds from the invisible and impenetrable, 

 from an apparent ' Nothing/ out of which all reality 

 rises inexhaustibly. If we reflect on this strange 

 phenomenon, we are surprised at the power of a pre- 

 judice, at once popular and scientific, which makes 

 every one a Spencer not less than every first-comer 

 regard the infinitesimal as insignificant, i.e., as homo- 

 geneous, neutral, without character or spirit." l 



In his criticism of Herbert Spencer's theory of the ss. 



His criti- 



origin of things and processes in the monotony of an g^ c e f r 

 " unstable homogeneous " condition, 2 out of which through 

 some unexplained influence the endless variety of pheno- 

 mena arises, we are reminded of Hegel's criticism of the 

 Absolute of Schelling which " is the night in which all 

 cows are black." And as Hegel thought it imperative 

 to start with a living and active principle, not with a 

 mere identity or indifference, so M. Tarde sees the 

 original fact in a creative process or a series of creative 



1 Gabriel Tarde, loc. cit., p. 159. 



2 "Je sais bien ce qu'on va 

 m'objecter : la pretendue loi de 

 1'instabilite de 1'homogene. Mais 

 elle est fausse, mais elle est arbi- 

 traire, mais elle a e"t imaginee tout 

 expres pour concilier avec le parti 

 pris de croire indifferencie' en soi 

 1'indistinct a nos yeux, 1'evidence 

 des diversite's phenomenales, des 

 exuberantes variations vivantes, 



psychologiques et sociales. La 

 veYite est que 1'he'terogene seul est 

 instable et que 1'homogene est stable 

 essentiellement. La stability des 

 choses est en raison directe de leur 

 homogdne'ite. La seule chose par- 

 faitemeut homogene ou paraissant 

 telle dans la Nature, c'est 1'Espace 

 ge'ome'trique, qui n'a point change 

 depuis Euclide" (loc. cit., p. 160 

 sqq.) 



