The most notable expression of the new socialistic idea was that of Count Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), a relative of the celebrated Duke. He had great confidence in the power of science as an instrument for social reconstruction, and he took over from a medical man, Dr. Burdin, the notions which, later on, Auguste Comte was to formulate into the doctrines of Positivism. Saint-Simon’s influence showed itself while the century was young, his first work _Lettres d’un Habitant de Genève_ appearing in 1803. In this he outlined a scheme for placing the authoritative power of the community, not in the hands of Church and State, but in a freely elected body of thinkers and _artistes_. He then endeavoured to urge the importance of order in society, as a counterpart to the order erected by science in the world of knowledge. To this end was directed his _Introduction aux Travaux scientifiques du Dix-neuvième Siècle_ (1807-8). He also indicated the importance for social welfare of abandoning the preoccupation with an imaginary heaven, and pointed out that the more social and political theory could be emancipated from the influence of theological dogmas the better. At the same time he quite recognised the importance of religious beliefs to a community, and his sociological view of religion foreshadowed Guyau’s study, an important work which will claim our attention in due course.
In 1813, Saint-Simon published his _Mémoire sur la Science de l’Homme_, in which he laid down notions which were the germ of Auguste Comte’s _Law of the Three Stages_. With the peace which followed the Battle of Waterloo, a tremendous stimulus was given in France to industrial activity, and Saint-Simon formulated his motto “All by industry and all for industry.” Real power, he showed, lay not in the hands of governments or government agents, but with the industrial class. Society therefore should be organised in the manner most favourable to the working class. Ultimate economic and political power rests with them. These ideas he set forth in _L’Industrie_, 1817-18, _La Politique_, 1819, _L’Organisateur_, 1819-30, _Le Système industriel_, 1821-22, _Le Catéchisme des Industriels_, 1822-24. Since 1817 among his fellow- workers were now Augustin Thierry and young Auguste Comte, his secretary, the most important figure in the history of the first half of the century.