IO2 FROM COMTE TO BENJAMIN KIDD PART n 



the organism is coming off second best. If Comte 

 tells us, " Be parts ; be mere parts, living for the sake 

 of the whole," Spencer thinks such advice the very 

 worst possible. Each for himself ; fair-play all round ; 

 justice the supreme consideration, politically and so- 

 cially ; the occasional surrender of individual rights 

 purely a personal matter, with which public action 

 and public opinion dare not interfere such is Mr. 

 Spencer's social programme. It is the antithesis of 

 Comte's. Where Comte says, " Yes," Spencer says 

 "No," very nearly all the way through. We take it, 

 therefore, that, beyond serving to explain his views 

 lucidly and add a grace to them, the doctrine of the 

 social organism does nothing for Mr. Spencer, 



