HENRI DE SAINT-SIMON: BIOGRAPHY, THEORIES, CONTRIBUTIONS, WORK - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) is considered one of the forerunners of the ideas of socialism, being one of the leading thinkers of utopian socialism of the 19th century. Among its postulates, the defense of a society based on industrialization and productivity stands out.

He was convinced that only the industrial classes - those who really engaged in productive work - were the people needed for the advancement of society. Along these lines, he strongly criticized the idle and parasitic classes that only lived thanks to what others were doing.

In addition to this stance towards social organization, he also believed that the economic order should prevail over politics. In this sense, he anticipated ideas that would later be promoted by socialism and Marxism.

The corpus of his proposal was that politics use the foundations of Christianity. An example of this is his most recognized work, New Christianity, in which he declared himself a representative of the working class and affirmed that the objective of the new social regime is to achieve the liberation of this class.

His positivist ideas greatly influenced Augusto Comte, with whom he worked until their ideological paths parted. Thanks to the influence of Saint-Simon on Comte's thought, his postulates have also been considered as precursors of sociology.

Thanks to his postulates, Engels called him one of the most brilliant minds of his time along with Hegel. After his death, his disciples created the school of Saint-Simonism to spread his ideas. This became a kind of religious sect that dissolved in the 1930s.

Biography

Historian, philosopher and theorist of the social order, Claude-Henri de Rouvroy was born in Paris on October 17, 1760. His family was of the Parisian aristocracy for which he inherited the title of count, being known as Count of Saint-Simon.

Another prominent member of his family was the Duke Louis de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon, who is known for his work Memoirs in which he dedicated himself to describing in detail what the court of Louis XIV was like.

Thanks to his comfortable economic and social position, he was a disciple of Jean le Rond d'Alembert, one of the most prominent representatives of the French encyclopedist movement of the 18th century.

Work in the army

To carry on the tradition of his family, he enlisted in the French army. He was sent among the troops that gave military aid to the United States during the war of independence from England.

The influence of the French Revolution determined his career, so he swelled the lists of the Republican Party. Later, in 1792, he was appointed president of the Paris Commune; from that moment he renounced his title of nobility and decided to be called Claude Henri Bonhomme.

His privileged position during the French Revolution was exhausted by certain accusations that he had speculated with goods of the nation; Furthermore, his friendship with Danton also caused him some problems. For this he was in jail in 1793 until in 1794 he was released.

Although in its beginnings he was in favor of the French Revolution, with the arrival of the terror regime he completely distanced himself from this movement.

Bankruptcy

Saint-Simon lived his childhood in the middle of a comfortable economic position. However, his family did not always enjoy these benefits.

It enjoyed economic comfort during what is known as the Directory, during which time it was frequented by personalities of the stature of the mathematicians Monge and Lagrange.

However, later fortune left his side and Saint-Simon entered a precarious financial situation. At this time he concentrated on writing numerous scientific and philosophical publications until he managed to stabilize his finances.

Later he fell back into poverty. As a result of his desperate financial situation, he tried to commit suicide but missed the shot; in the incident he lost an eye.

Death

Henri de Saint-Simon died on May 19, 1825 in his hometown, Paris. His last years were framed in absolute poverty.

Theories in sociology

The development of his thought as the germ of socialism and sociology responds to his rejection of the regime of terror. All his proposals find their origin in the reaction against the bloodshed and Napoleon's militarism.

Industrial and leisure classes

Saint-Simon, insofar as he has been considered a precursor of socialism, claimed that society was divided into two groups: the industrial class and the leisure class.

He called the "industrialists" those who with their work promoted society to advance. This class was made up of bankers, workers, peasants, merchants, and investors.

In contrast, the "idle" or parasitic class were those who simply lived at the expense of the effort of others. There it grouped the nobles, landowners, courtiers, clergy and the judiciary.

He believed that a new social model should be established in which the value of work was paramount. This new society would have a style marked by industry thanks to the orderly and planned contribution of scientists and industrialists.

In this sense, he proposed that the State should have as its primary objective the development and promotion of production and industrialization as the key to achieving the formation of a new social order.

According to Saint-Simon, thanks to this new conception of society, an improvement in the living conditions of the largest and poorest class could be achieved; namely, the proletariat.

Class struggle and private property

Although his ideas have been considered the germ of socialism and Marxism, his postulates contain a critique of capitalism insofar as it suggested the formation of a new order.

This is because the contradictions between the bourgeois and proletarian class were not yet evident, but rather they were found in terms of idleness and productivity. This is why he considered himself an enemy of the class struggle between proletarians and the bourgeoisie.

For Saint-Simon, private property was positive as long as it became a good for production and industrialization; however, he did criticize inheritance privileges as a way to combat the accumulation of assets across generations.

Moral view of Christianity

In his most important work, Le Nouveau christianisme (The New Christianity), he explained that Christianity should lend its principles to the exercise of politics so that a new and better society could be established.

For this reason, he proposed that a moral reorganization of the ruling class should be carried out, so that the transformation would really take place in a society whose base was work and in which the effort of each worker was recognized, because in that society of the Future work must be guaranteed for everyone according to their abilities.

As his proposal was that of an industrialized society, Saint-Simon proposed that scientists should occupy the role that clergymen previously had and lead the larger class to improve their living conditions. This is why its postulates give rise to the technocracy of the twentieth century.

In this way, a new social order could be built based on those principles of Christianity, whose ultimate goal should be to improve the living conditions of the poorest class.

Other contributions

In addition to the contributions he made to the conception of sociology and socialism in general with his proposal of utopian or aristocratic socialism, Saint-Simon's postulates were also innovative for his time in terms of the vision of history.

With his ideas he surpassed French materialism, since he considered that history is not made up of events concatenated by the effect of chance, but that in each process there is a specific historical progress.

This is why, for him, the best moment in history will be the future, in which the society of the future will be led by science and industry. This corresponds to the ideal setting for Saint-Simon.

Phases of history

In his study, he specified that history is organized in three phases of evolution. He called the first the theological phase, in which society is governed by religious principles; in this denomination are the slave and feudal society.

The second phase corresponds to metaphysics, in which the feudal system collapses and is the time of Saint-Simon. The third phase is what he saw as the future, the golden age: the positive phase in which the new social order would be marked by industrialization and science.

In his review of history, he analyzed the evolution of France from the 15th century to the French Revolution, focusing on the transfer of property from the hands of the clergy and the nobility to the hands of the industrialists.

All this vision of history responds to idealistic paradigms that also approached the correct interpretation, because they represent a contribution to the development of the science of history.

Sansimonism

After the death of the Count of Saint-Simon in 1825, his followers perceived him as a kind of new messiah who wanted to promote this “new Christianity”.

To give life to his postulates, some of his disciples - such as Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin, Saint-Amand Bazard and Olinde Rodrigues - formed a newspaper, Le Producteur, to attack liberalism.

Thanks to that publication, politicians, bankers, merchants and the like who assumed Saint-Simonism as a religion in which faith was based on science joined the cause.

Faithful promoters of the ideas of the Comte de Saint-Simon fought the prerogatives of inheritance, as well as the ideas that today are known as technocracy and the theory of capabilities.

Saint-Simonism was a pioneer in fighting for the rights of women, claiming that their situation was one of slavery since their wages were lower than that of men.

As time passed it became a sect, its leaders being persecuted by the authorities. All this situation generated the dissolution of this movement, which occurred approximately in 1864 with the death of Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin, Samsimonian leader.

Plays

Saint-Simon's thought is collected in various publications. Among the most outstanding works of this author the following can be mentioned:

Letter from a Geneva resident to his contemporaries

It is from 1802 or 1803 and he published it in the early years of the French Revolution, when he undertook a journey through Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

In this text he began to glimpse what he later conceived as his theory of capacity. Its format is very interesting, as they are letters that he sends to an imaginary friend who responds, thanks to which he can explain his reflections in a didactic and quite explanatory way.

The industrial system

This is the second book that Saint-Simon published and was published in 1821. This text is part of the second stage of his authorship life, defined as such by scholars because it is at that time that he concentrates on publications with more practical and circumscribed approaches to the current problem.

The catechism of industrialists

This is the text that he dedicates to the class that, according to his considerations, should lead the entire change of social order.

The new christianity

This text corresponds to the most important work of his career, which was published precisely in 1825, the year of his death.

In this work he condenses all his political, economic and sociological postulates by which Marx asserted that Saint-Simon was undoubtedly the father of socialism, since this thinker assured that the liberation of the working class was the final objective of every new social order.

References

1. "Biography of Saint-Simon". In Biography. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Biography: biografia.org
2. "Count of Saint-Simon" in Biographies and Lives. The Biographical Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Biographies and Lives: biografiasyvidas.com
3. "Claudio Enrique Saint-Simón" in Philosophies in Spanish. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Philosophies in Spanish: philosophia.org
4. "Henri de Saint-Simon" in Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Encyclopedia Britannica: britannica.com
5. "Saint-Simon, precursor of socialism" in Muy Historia. Retrieved on November 12, 2018 from Muy Historia: muyhistoria.es