Abstract

The Saint-Simonians viewed man's history as a process of progressive moral development which paralleled the growth of the human body; political and social institutions served as the realization of this moral order in the world. When these institutions were consistent with men's moral state, then unity and harmony prevailed and the period was referred to as an organic epoch. As men progressed, in accordance with the law of human perfectibility, morals became incompatible with existing institutions. This situation generated chaos and conflict and was called a critical epoch. The Saint-Simonians identified two occurrences of this process in history, and considered themselves the bearers of the third and final organic epoch. They shunned the competitive organization of laissez-faire capitalism and argued that moral, aesthetic, and industrial progress within the "Final State" would occur within a universal and hierarchically arranged social system