English Positivism

Positivism spread from France to England, the classic land of Empiricism, which was thus disposed not only to accept the new current of thought, but also to give it a better systematization than had the land of its origin. Hence it was in England that the greatest representatives and systematizers of Positivism arose. We shall limit our examination of this development to John Stuart Mill, who is of interest to us because of his theory of knowledge; and to Herbert Spencer, who is important because of his evolutionist metaphysics.

JOHN STUART MILL

Life and Works

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a litterateur, philosopher and political scientist. From 1822 to 1858 he served in various capacities at India House, finally becoming head of the examiner's office. From 1865 to 1868 Mill was a member of British Parliament. He spent the remainder of his life at Avignon, where he died.

At first a follower of Hume's empiricism, he later came into contact with Positivism and became one of its greatest representatives and exponents. Of interest to us is his gnosiological doctrine (theory of knowledge) because of the new interpretation it gives to Hume's principle of association. Mill's most important philosophical work is his System of Logic.

Doctrine

According to Mill, we know only the facts presented by experience. Inductive reasoning does not consist in passing from the particular to the universal (as Francis Bacon taught), but from particular to particular, by way of the analogical likeness which facts carry within themselves (analogical reasoning).

Let us suppose that we notice the characteristics of A, B, C and D in a certain number of phenomena. If other phenomena similar to those already perceived and bearing the characteristics of A, B, C come under observation, we infer that characteristic D is also present, even though it is not observed. Thus, for example, if I know that some men have died, I shall infer by analogy that the Duke of Wellington will also die, although I have not yet witnessed his death. Evidently such a conclusion lacks absolute necessity.

Mill does not recognize the value of the Aristotelian concept. For him, concepts are not a sign by which the intellect understands a particular thing in its essence, They are merely outlines summing up past experience. The Aristotelian syllogism also is devoid of value, because for Mill the major premise is nothing other than a record of particular experiences. These experiences are the only evidence on which the conclusion rests. Since Wellington is still living, his death is not recorded in the major: "All men die."

In regard to metaphysics, Mill reduces all reality to sensible data alone. However, not all reality is experienced. Therefore, even when we have no sensations, there is in us the possibility of receiving them. From this it follows that things are either actual or possible sensations. The human spirit is nothing other than the permanent possibility of receiving sensations.

In ethics Mill supports a utilitarianism which allows him to affirm the superiority of spiritual over sensible pleasures, and to convert egoism into altruism. Man, according to Mill, naturally tends to his own interests; he is an egoist. By living in society, however, man acquires the habit of associating his happiness with the happiness of others. At first he considers his fellow creatures as means to his own happiness. Then he confuses means with end, and finishes by regulating his conduct as if the sole and last end of his actions were the good of others rather than his own. Man is thus like a miser who first seeks money as a means to other goods, but who finishes by loving money as an end in itself. Notwithstanding these modifications, in Mill's utilitarianism there still remains confusion between the moral and economic values of a disinterested action.

HERBERT SPENCER

Life and Works

The son of an English schoolmaster, Herbert Spencer was born in Derby in 1820. During early manhood he was employed as a railway engineer. At the age of twenty-five he abandoned this occupation, to devote himself to writing. He died in 1903. Spencer possessed an encyclopedic culture, and this is mirrored in his works. Most of his writings are collected in A System of Synthetic Philosophy, which covers ten volumes; this work constitutes, as it were, an encyclopedia of Positivism.

Doctrine

Spencer is considered the systematizer of Positivism according to the principles of evolution. Mill had proposed the ego as a fully constituted being, endowed with the faculties of perception, association and memory. Spencer aimed at inquiring into the origin of the ego and its faculties, which Mill had not explained. Having established the origin of the ego, Spencer applied the considerations obtained from his study of the individual ego first to the human species, and then to the entire universe. To carry this our, Spencer accepted the principle of evolution.

For Spencer, evolution means "concentration," that is, passage from a state of dissipation and instability of elements to a state of integration of these same elements. At the same time evolution means differentiation, passage from homogeneity to heterogeneity, from the simple to the complex. The solar system, organic life, conscious life, social life underwent a parallel transformation through the process of evolution.

For example, the development of an organic body implies, first, the concentration of cells into tissues, then the progressive specification of organs, and finally the coordination of these same organs in the living body. In this process of evolution, energy remains constant; that is, the same force, acting in different directions and upon different objects, produces different effects. The quantity of energy, however, is found to be always constant.

Even life is an effect of evolution. According to Spencer, it was rendered possible by an ever more perfect adaptation of interior to exterior conditions. In the struggle for conservation of existence, the fittest individuals survive; the others perish. All of this takes place according to the principle of natural selection.

Consciousness and intelligence are also produced by the same process of evolution. Spencer admits knowledge only within the limits of experience. Nevertheless, he admits the presence within the mind of some general ideas, such as those of space and time, and the logical and moral principles which impose themselves absolutely on individuals. The value of such principles does not depend upon pragmatic utility. They are formed by the same universal law of evolution, and come to us through heredity.

In matters of religion, Spencer is explicitly agnostic. He admits the existence of an "absolute reality," which he calls the "Unknowable," beyond the world of experience. But every time science attempts to penetrate the world of the Absolute, it falls into contradiction. So also, religion falls into contradiction every time it attempts to penetrate the world of science.

With the affirmation of the existence of the Absolute and the distinction between the knowable (science) and unknowable (God -- mystery), it would seem that Spencer has justified both God and the sciences as regards their relationships with each other. But a God of whom we can know nothing (whether He is transcendent or immanent, spirit or matter, one or many) cannot be the object of any religion, not even of positivist religion. It would seem that for Spencer this God is nothing more than the immanent energy required as the foundation of evolution.