ABSTRACT
In his studies and life experiences, Saint-Simon had encountered three major social facts, each of which eventually came to play a decisive role in shaping his social theorizing. First, scientific naturalism and the rationalist faith of Antoine de Condorcet2 and the Enlightenment coincided with his philanthropic urge to reform the world. Second, the practical materialism of the rising entrepreneurial bourgeoisie provided a new, economic, base, on which the future form of collective life could rest. And finally, his search for a unity-creating principle had led him to appreciate the emphasis upon ideas and values found in de Bonald, de Malstre as well as Burke, the ideologues of the conservative reaction to the Enlightenment and particularly to the Revolution. 3
(a) The moral foundation of society Saint-Simon's most basic proposition is concerned with the relation between ideas and social institutions. His entire doctrine is dominat-
ed by the idea that a social system is only the application of a system of ideas: 'Systems of religion, of general politics, morality, of public instruction are nothing else than applications of a system of thought considered under different aspects.'4 By tracing the social and political transformations in the Europe of his time, he demonstrates that society's state of knowledge determines the form of social organization.
