ABSTRACT
The successor to Saint-Pierre, Turgot, and Condorcet is SaintSimon, who, in collaboration with Augustin Thierry, published in 1814 an essay on the reorganization of European society, which bore the subtitle: “The means of uniting the various nations of Europe into a political body, and at the same time preserving the national independence of each.” No wonder Napoleon declared him “simply a fool.” A hereditary king and a parliament would preside over this federation. The parliament would compose differences between nations which otherwise might eventuate in war, and would initiate and supervise works of great public utility, such as connecting the Danube with the Rhine and the latter with the Baltic. It would regulate European education, provide a code of morals, and supervise the emigration of Europeans into all parts of the world. Eventually the nations of Europe will realize that questions of general interest should predominate over merely national ones. The misery which oppresses society will then diminish, the troubles which menace its peace will disappear, and wars will cease. Poets place the Golden age at the beginning of human history, amid the ignorance and barbarity of early times, but it would be more rational to relegate the Iron age to that period. The Golden age of the human race is not in the past but in the future, and its potentiality lies in the perfectibility of society. Our fathers have not seen it, but if we make ready the way our children will behold it. In a later work, SaintSimon advocates a reorganization of society into two classes, the intellectual and the industrial, the former to advance knowledge of the laws of nature, the latter to apply them. Thus all mankind will be engaged in promoting industry, theoretical or applied. His motto was, “Every-thing by Industry, Everything for Industry.”
