A Bibliographical Mistake in the Study of Henri de Saint-Simon
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1972.tb01072.x |
| Date | 01 June 1972 |
| Published date | 01 June 1972 |
| Author | M. H. James |
| Subject Matter | Article |
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL MISTAKE
IN THE STUDY
OF
HENRI DE SAINT-SIMON
M.
H.
JAMES
Queen’s University
of
Bevast
IT
is generally assumed that the short work entitled
De laphysiologie appliqude
ci
l’amdlioration des institutions sociales
(often shortened for convenience to
De la
physiologiesociale)
was written by Saint-Simon.
As
the work appears in volume 10
of
Oeuvres de Saint-Simon,
this would seem to be a reasonable assumption in the
absence of any clear indication to the contrary by the editor,
E.
Dentu.1 In fact,
however, it was written by Dr. gtienne-Marin Bailly, a physician, and
a
member
of the small group of intellectuals who befriended Saint-Simon in his last years.
It is true that Saint-Simon’s standing is by no means universally held to be
dependent upon
De laphysiologie sociale;
indeed, some of his commentators take
little or no account of the work. There is, however, one influential school of
thought which, following Durkheim’s study
Socialism and Saint-Simon,
regards
De la physiologie sociale
as one of Saint-Simon’s most important works, and,
largely on its account, awards him, rather than Comte, the honour of having
founded both positivism and sociology.
The circumstances surrounding the friendship between Saint-Simon and Bailly
are adequately known, as are the details of the latter’s life and work.2 But the fact
that Dentu included one of Bailly’s works in a volume dedicated to the publication
of Saint-Simon’s works
is
not generally realized.
De la physiologie sociale
was
originally published in
1825
in a collection of articles entitled
Opinions littdraires,
philosophiques et industrielles.3
This collection was inspired by Saint-Simon, and
he himself contributed two pieces
:
Quelques opinions philosophiques
h
l’usage
du
dix-neuvieme siPcle,
and
De i’organisation sociale: fragments d’un ouvrage inddit.
Dentu included these, as a matter of course, in his
Oeuvres de Saint-Simon,4
but
he decided to include, in addition, both Bailly’s
De laphysiologie sociale
and an
article by Olindes Rodrigues entitled
L’artiste, le savant et l’industriel.5
Whereas
he clearly attributed the latter to its author,6 he did not do
so
in the case of Bailly’s
1
Paris,
1875,
pp.
173-97.
The
Oeuvres de Saint-Simon
constitute eleven of the forty-seven
volumes of the
Oeuvres de Saint-Simon et d’Enfantin,
Paris, ed.
E.
Dentu
(1865-76)
and
E.
Perroux
(1877-8).
Volume
10
of the former series is Volume
39
of the latter.
It
is most readily
available in the photographic reproduction entitled
Oeuvres de Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon,
editions
Anthropos, Paris,
1966,
Tome
V,
which contains
Vols.
10-1 1
of the Dentu edition.
2
‘Dr.
6tienne-Marin Bailly was in many ways the most bizarre member of the circle; in
addition to his professional practice, he had a militant interest in the French Philhellenic Society
which agitated for Greek independence, and he dabbled in astronomy as well
as
in Dr. Gall’s
phrenology.’
F.
Manuel,
The New Worldof Henri Saint-Simon,
Harvard University Press,
1956,
p.
329.
According to H. Gouhier, Bailly was introduced to Saint-Simon by Auguste Comte in
1817,
and became his ‘faithful disciple’.
H.
Gouhier,
La
Jeunesse d’duguste Comte,
Vol.
3,
Paris,
1941,
p.
238.
3
Paris,
1825,
pp.
226-72.
4
Volume
10.
pp.
49-172.
5
Ibid., pp.
199-258.
6
Ibid., p.
199.
Politid
Studies,
Vol.
XX,
No.
2
(202-205)
To continue reading
Request your trial