August Comte Pattern Variables

Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is the founder of positivism, a philosophical and political movement which enjoyed a very wide diffusion in the second half of the nineteenth century. It sank into an almost complete oblivion during the twentieth, when it was eclipsed by neopositivism. However, Comte's decision to develop successively a philosophy of mathematics, a philosophy of physics, a philosophy of chemistry and a philosophy of biology, makes him the first philosopher of science in the modern sense, and his constant attention to the social dimension of science resonates in many respects with current points of view. However, this essay will cover his consensus, language, religion and division of labour as the foundation of social solidarity. To start with, major concepts will be defined followed by the discussion showing how these 3 factors are contributing to the social solidarity in the African society. After doing so, a conclusion will be drawn.

Consensus is an acceptable resolution, one that can be supported, even if not the "favourite" of each individual. According to the Merriam-Webster, consensus is general agreement and group solidarity of belief or sentiment. Language is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, and a language is any specific example of such a system. Auguste Comte defines language as a dynamic system linking political and domestic life. (Grin F & Daftary F, 2003)

Religion is such a complex and varied human phenomenon that some sociologists prefer to avoid definitions and think of religion in terms of an ideal type. They will say that most religions have most of the characteristics of the ideal type, but they need not have all of them. In general terms, James C. Livingston (2008) defined religion as “that system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred value and transforming power.” Religion is also defined as a collection of belief systems, cultural systems and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Comte defines religion as a bond that encourages individuals to subordinate their own self-interests to the interests of their fellows. It holds a society together in a system of common beliefs. (Andrew Wernick, 2001)

Division of labour is an approach to the completion of a complex task which involves breaking the task into a number of simpler tasks and assigning these tasks to specialists who generally perform only their assigned task. www.investorwords.com

Auguste Comte argued that consensus, language, religion and division of labour are the social bonds of society and that they are the foundations of social solidarity as shall see in the following discussion.

The term consensus was introduced into the language of the social sciences by Auguste Comte in the nineteenth century; he conceived it as the indispensable cement on which any social structure must rest. He believed that if society was not to collapse into a sandheap of individuals it had to be based on the consensus of a moral community of like-minded and like-feeling individuals. Consensus is used to describe both the decision and the process of reaching a decision, it is also concerned with the process of deliberating and finalizing a decision, and the social and political effects of using this process. However, it is evident that consensus brings about solidarity as people come together and agree. An example in Africa would be that of a peace summit where a number of African Countries came together to agree, they called this summit African Alliance Summit (AAP) 2010. The AAP held its First Regional Summit in Accra, Ghana, in May 2008, where the theme was “The African Alliance for Peace: Moving it Forward.” The Second Regional Summit of the AAP was held 22-25 October 2010 in Abuja, Nigeria. The theme of the Second AAP Summit was “Building Institutional Capacities and Partnerships for a Culture of Peace.” Consensus clearly seeks to improve solidarity in the long run. (AAP Summit 2010: www.gamip.org/summits/previous-summits/african-alliance-summit-2010/. 3rd January 2012)

According to Comte, language is a dynamic system linking political and domestic life. In African society language is an important factor in that, it ties people to past generations, ties people into a community of their fellows with similar concepts, values, and outlooks. Without common language man cannot attain solidarity and consensus, without common language no social order is possible. According to Ngugi wa Thiongo language is the soul of culture. This is to say a person’s language is a vehicle of their particular culture. Mumpande contends cogently that “This is clearly shown in proverbs and riddles. The former, for example, have dual meanings: a literal meaning and a metaphoric or cultural significance. When literally translated into another language, a proverb frequently loses its meaning and flavour”. He further graphically argues that ‘a community without a language is like a person without a soul.’ (Mumpande, 2009)

Language is a foundation of solidarity in Africa in the sense that different tribes somehow do manage to communicate through a common language. They have formed what is known as a lingua franca which is referred to as a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues. Examples of such languages are English, Swahili, Portuguese, in Zambia for example we have Nyanja and Bemba. Lingua francas is important to Africa as it has made trade easy between nations as well as linking friendships. Most sovereign states are bound together on the basis of language; these are Franco phone (French speaking countries) and Anglophone (English speaking countries). Not only is language important for trade but also for diplomatic and administrative convenience, and as a means of exchanging information between scientists and other scholars of different nationalities. (Hall, 1966).

Further, it is agreeable that it is the foundation of solidarity in that, in relation to Africa, language functions as one of the most obvious markers of culture, in the same vein, Webb and Kembo note that in Africa, ‘people are often identified culturally primarily (and even solely) on the basis of the language they speak’. For example the Tonga, Ndebele and Shona in Zimbabwe and the Xhosa and Zulu in South Africa. Again, Serpell notes that the Zambian languages are intimately bound up with many of the society’s traditional practices, and enshrine in multiplex and subtle ways the epistemological foundations of indigenous moral values. (Serpell, 1993)

In Africa language is a means of expression and allows a person to participate in community activities. In Zambia for example history through language and culture is celebrated in form of traditional ceremonies such as the Kuomboka for the Lozi speaking people, Nc’wala for the Ngoni and Mutomboko for the Bemba. Language is also used as a medium of fostering a democratic culture. In this sense, language policy plays a vital role in the process of democratic transition. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights convincingly succinctly captured the first and second points when it argued that “Language is an integral part of the structure of culture; it in fact constitutes its pillar and means of expression par excellence. Its usage enriches the individual and enables him to take an active part in the community and its activities. To deprive a man of such participation amounts to depriving him of his identity.” (Malawi African Association, 2000)

Other factors of the importance of language in Africa include; it is valuable as collective human accomplishments and on-going manifestations of human creativity and originality. This is supported by UNESCO’s (2007) argument for language preservation that the world’s languages represent an extraordinary wealth of human creativity. They contain and express the total ‘pool of ideas’ nurtured over time through heritage, local traditions and customs communicated through local languages.

Nevertheless, language can also be a source of power, social mobility and opportunities. The linguistic situation of a country’s society usually reflects its power structure, as language is an effective instrument of societal control. Most African states are characterised by, Makoni and Trudell’s (2009) averment that ‘it is undeniably true that communities of speakers of smaller languages tend also to be the less politically empowered communities’. May contends that ‘Language loss is not only, perhaps not even primarily, a linguistic issue – it has much more to do with power, prejudice, (unequal) competition and, in many cases, overt discrimination and subordination. Language death seldom occurs in communities of wealth and privilege, but rather to the dispossessed and disempowered. This normally leads to situations where majority or minority communities within African states become vociferous in support of their own identity and desire to ensure that their language, customs and traditions are not lost. In this regard, language becomes an almost inevitable point of contention between communities. Keebe, D. (2003).

While language is one of the primary bonds that hold a society together another important social bond, according to Comte, is a common religious belief. He defines religion as a bond that encourages individuals to subordinate their own self-interests to the interests of their fellows. It holds a society together in a system of common beliefs. Comte also added that religion serves to legitimate a society’s institutions, giving them spiritual support and approval, strengthening the status quo, making it seem right and ordained by God. However in Africa, religion has directed people morally in terms of behavior. At the back of the minds they are reminded to be religious and because of this, they refrain from doing wrong hence reduced crimes and other wrong doings. Other scholars that agreed that religion brings about social solidarity include Emile Durkheim his views on religion were as follows:

“Religious rituals prepare men for social life by imposing self-discipline and a certain measure of asceticism. Religious ceremonies bring people together and thus serve to reaffirm their common bonds and to reinforce social solidarity. Religious observance maintains and revitalizes the social heritage of the group and helps transmit its enduring values to future generations. Finally, religion has a euphoric function in that it serves to counteract feelings of frustration and loss of faith and certitude by re establishing the believers' sense of well-being, their sense of the essential rightness of the moral world of which they are a part.’’ Coser (1977:136 – 139)

In addition religion contributes to solidarity in Africa as it is multifaceted and has been a major influence on art, culture and philosophy. The continent's various populations and individuals are mostly adherents of Christianity or Islam. Others practice traditional and folk religions. In the countryside, religious beliefs are also often characterized by syncretism with local traditions. Comte believed that religion is the state of harmony that results when man's entire life, both as an individual and as a member of society, corresponds with the real conditions first of human nature; and secondly of the world around us. In addition, religion is the tie that binds community together through various forms of belief and practice. It is an institution that contributes important ideas to society at large; it also connects with specific aspects of non-religious social life, like economics and politics. (Durkheim, 1954).

Other Theologists agree that when you do the will of the Almighty, Omniscient Creator, you will have peace. Just as Confucian Fetishism said: Follow the mean, the just, the even course of correct conduct, and Heaven (the Sky) will give you peace. Just as Buddhism said: Get rid of all the passions which disturb and distract the Spirit, and you will find ultimate rest in complete freedom from all lower cares. So Positivism, giving precision to the vague fancies about Creation, Heaven, and Nirvana, says: Make life correspond with the real conditions of human nature and of external nature and then harmony, happiness, peace result. Peace, rest, harmony, the healthy working of the human organism, is the end of all modes of Religion. Religion is simply a state of general harmony, within and without-in the inmost spirit, between man and his fellows, between man and the Earth. To this end, it is evident that helps in preserving the existing social order by making life more bearable, interprets to, religious values influence many people’s actions, unites individuals, provides comfort and hence creates order in society. (Acker, J. R., 1998)

Tony Davies adds that Comte's secular and positive religion was a complete system of belief and ritual, with liturgy and sacraments, priesthood and pontiff, all organized around the public veneration of Humanity", referred to as the Nouveau Grand-Être Suprême (New Supreme Great Being). "This was later to be supplemented in a positivist trinity by the earth and the Cosmic Space. Thus this scheme of Religion is really a scheme of Knowledge, of Practice, of Feeling in the entire range of human life. In this view people of Africa respect religion as they believe it is a sacred thing that every human being should practice in order to live in harmony.

Division of labour was another important social bond for Auguste Comte. He argued that men and women should be bound together by the very distribution of their occupations; and it is distribution which causes the extent and growing complexity of the social organism. He further added that the division of labor encouraged individuals to develop their talents; that it contributed to the social bond by making each individual dependent on others the baker, the butcher, the candlestick maker—none could survive without the other. In doing so division of labour encourages teamwork, by working as a team social solidarity is formed. In African society division of labour has made production process faster. Since different stages are manned by different individual, the time and energy that could have been dissipated in moving from one stage to another are saved. (Martineau, 1896)

The social organization tends more and more to rest on an exact estimate of individual diversities, by so distributing employments as to appoint each one to the destination he is most fit for, from his own nature, from his education and his position, and, in short, from all his qualifications; so that all individual organizations, even the most vicious and imperfect, may finally be made use of for the general good. In short division of labor entails that no one can work alone and that people need to work together to accomplish the objectives.

In view of the above, consensus may not be reached, sometimes a majority dominates, sometimes a minority, sometimes an individual who employs "the block". But no matter how it is done, it is NOT consensus. Hartnett, T. (2011). Language can also be a problem, an example is Kenya where different tribes were fighting even killing each other. Religious conflicts are common especially in Nigeria where Christians and Muslims are fighting. Division of labour also has its negatives in that if one part is functioning fully, it tends to affect the others.

In conclusion Auguste Comte’s for factors of the foundation of social solidarity i.e. consensus, language, religion and division of labour are evidently contribution to the social solidarity of the people of Africa. This is to say in terms of language they can communicate regardless of their tribes, religiously, they have respect for sacred things that help to mould them to what they are in promoting self discipline and they can work together as a team as they need each other just like the human body needs every part in order to function fully.