Outlines of an historical view of the progress of the human mind

Contents

Page.

Preface *

[Introduction * • • * ^

Preface

vOONT)OFXET, proscribed by a sanguinary faction, formed the idea of addressing to his fellowcitizens a summary of his principles, and of his con* duct in public affairs. He set down a few lines in execution of this project: but when he recollected, as he was obliged to do, thirty years of labor directlO the public service, and the multitude of fugitive pieces in which, since the revolution, he had ily attacked every institution inimical to liberty, he rejected the idea of a useless justification. ' Free as he was from the dominion of the passions, he could not consent to stain the purity of his mind by recollecting his persecutors ; perpetually and alive to himself, he determined to die short space that remained between him and death to a work of general and permanent utility. That work is the performance now given to the world. It has relation to a number of others, in which the rights of men had previously been discussed and established ; in which superstition had i its last and fatal blow ; in which the methods of the mathematical sciences, applied to .' objects, have opened new avenues to the moral and political sciences ; in which the genuine prin- j >f social I received ;t, and" a kind of demonstration, unknown before ; lastly, in which we where p marks of that | fe

>f self-love of vi. PREFACE

and incorruptible virtues within the influence of which it is impossible to live without feeling a .religious veneration.

May this deplorable instance of the most extraordinary talents lost to his country... .to the cause of liberty.. ..to the progress of science, and its beneficial application to the wants of civilized man, excite a bitterness of regret that shall prove advanr tageous to the public welfare !.,..May this death, which will In no small degree contribute, in the pages of history, to characterise the era in which it has taken place, inspire a firm and dauntless attachment to the rights of which it was a violation! Such is the only homage worthy the sage, who, the fatal sword suspended over his head, could meditate in peace the melioration and happiness of his fellow creatures ; such the only consolation those can experience who have been the objects of his affection, and haye known all the extent of his virtue.

OUTLINES

OF AM

HISTORICAL VIEW, kci INTRODUCTION.

lAN is born with the faculty of receiving Sensations. In those which he receives, he is capable of perceiving and of distinguishing the simple sensations of which they are composed. He can retain, recognise, combine them. He can preserve or recal them to his memory • he can compare their different combinations ; he can ascertain what they possess in common, and what characterises each: lastly, he can affix signs to all these objects, the better to know them, and the more easily to form from them new combinations.

This faculty is developed in him by the action of external objects, that is, by the presence of certain complex sensations, the constancy of which, whether in their identical whole, or in the laws of their change, is independent of himself. It is, also exercised by communication with other similarly organised individuals, and by all the artificial means which, from the first developement of this faculty, men have succeeded in inventing.

Sensations are accompanied with pleasure or pain, and man has the further faculty of convening these momentary impressions into durable sentilX|gnts of a corresponding nature, and of experience

a ing these sentiments either at the sight or recolleo tion of the pleasure or pain of beings sensitive like himself. And from this faculty, united with that of forming and combining ideas, arise between him and his iellow-creatures^ the ties of interest and duty, to which nature has affixed the most exquisite portion of our felicity, and the most poignant of our sufferings.

Were we to confine our observations to an enquiry into the general facts and unvarying laws which the developement of these faculties presents to us, in what is common to the different individuals of the human species, our enquiry would bear the name of metaphysics*

But if we consider this developement in its results, relative to the mass of individuals co-existing at the same time on a given space, and follow it from generation to generation, it then exhibits a picture of the progress of human intellect. This progress is subject to the same general laws, observable in the individual developement of our faculties ; being the result of that very developement considered at once in a great number of individuals united in society. But the result which every instant presents, depends upon that of the preceding instants, and has an influence on the instants which follow.

This picture, therefore, is historical; since subjected as it will be to perpetual variations, it is formed by the successive observation of human societies at the different eras through which they have passed. It will accordingly exhibit the order In which the changes have taken place, explain the influence of every past period upon that which follows it, and thus show, by the modifications which the human species have experienced, in its incessant renovation through the immensity of ages, the course which it has pursued, and the steps which it has advanced towards knowledge and happiness. From these observations on what man has heretofore been, and what he is at present, we shall be led to the means of securing and of accelerating the still further progress, of which, from his nature, we may indulge the hope. ,

Such is the object of the work I have undertaken ; the result of which will be to show, from rea* soning and from facts, that no bouads have been fixed to the improvement of the human faculties ; that the perfectibility of man is absolutely indefinite ; that the progress of this perfectibility, henceforth above the cotroul of every power that would impede it, has no other limit than the duration of the globe upon which nature has placed us. The course of this progress may doubtless be more or less rapid, but it can never be retrograde ; at least while the earth retains its situation in the system of the universe, and the laws of this system shall neither effect upon the glebe a general overthrow, nor introduce such changes as would no longer permit the human race to preserve and exercise therein the same faculties, and find the same resources.

The first state of civilization observable in the human species, is that of a society of men, few in

nber, subsisting by means of hunting and fishing, unacquainted with every arc but die imped one of fabricating in an uncouth manner their ai and some household utensils, and of constructs g or digging for themselves an habitation ; yet already in possession of a language for the communication of their wants, and a small Dumber moral ideas, from which are deduced their common rules of conduct, living in families, conformi themselves to general customs that serve instead of laws, and having even a rude form of govt : ment.

Ik this state it is apparent that the uncertainty and difficulty of procuring subsistence, and the unavoidable alternative of extreme fatigue or an absolute repose, leaye not to man the leisure in which, by resigning himself to meditation, he might enrich his mind with new combinations. The means of satisfying his wants are even too dependent upon chance and the seasons,, useful to excite an industry, the progressive improvement of which might be transmitted to his progeny - r and accordingly the attention of each is confined to the improvement of his individual skill and address.

For this reason, the progress of the human species must in this stage have been extremely slow ; it could make no advance but at distant intervals, and when favored by extraordinary circumstances. Meanwhile, to the subsistance derived from hunting or fishing, or from the fruits which the earth spontaneously offered, succeeds the sustenance afforded by the animals which man has i tamed, and which he knows how to preserve and i multiply. To these means is afterwards added an : imperfect agriculture ; he is no longer content with

< the fruit or plants which chance throws in his way ;

< he learns to form a stock of them, to collect them i around him, to sow or to plant them, to favor their : reproduction by the labor of culture.

Property, which, in the first state, was confin- « ed to his household untensils, his arms, his nets, i and the animals he killed, is now extended to his « flock, and next to the land which he has cleared and 1 cultivated. Upon the death of its head, this pro- ; perty naturally" devolves to the family. Some ini dividuals possess a superfluity capable of being I prescved. If it be absolute, it gives rise to t new wants. If confined to a single article, white s the proprietor feels the want of other articles, this