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| Brazilian Positivism |
Perhaps the surge of hope caused by the belief in the powers of science to make Brazil a highly advanced nation had been an exaggeration, or perhaps the ideas with scientific and moral implications were contrary to the selfish corruption desire of our political class.
As Comte said “In order to secure the true employment of material power we must at once begin by respecting it generally, save in exceptional instances of fraud”.
The philosophy of positivism became a secular religion in Brazil and even churches were created, two of them exists to this date 2014, one in Porto Alegre and other in Rio de Janeiro (it is noteworthy that the temple of Porto Alegre, has been suffering with the evasion of adherents and now has just over thirty followers throughout the state). The philosophy of positivism was instrumental in the propaganda to replace Dom Pedro II.
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| Auguste Comte Positivism |
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
is often touted as the philosopher of the French Revolution. Robespierre took the idea of
sovereignty and radical virtue as the rally cry for the revolution. But it was
in Brazil, in a radically different way, that the revolution from empire to
republic, with the positivism of Auguste Comte seemed to have the potential to
lead us to a privileged position among all other countries in the world.
The "Order and
Progress" inscription, always green, is an abbreviated of Comte positivism
political motto: Love in principle and Order as base; the progress ultimately ("L'amour pour principe et l'ordre pour base; le progrès pour
but").
Euclides da Cunha, a
student of Benjamin Constant, said: "The motto of our flag is a wonderful
synthesis of what is highest in politics"
“Live for others in
order to live again in others and by others” with these words Comte pretty much
sums his philosophy by stating that as more and better you do for your system,
the more you will be remembered, and thus, your memory will live longer in
society.
Positivist church worships
the adoration to the ‘positivist trinity’, which
consists of:
-
Nouveau
Grand-Être Suprême (New Supreme Great Being, collective, real and abstract
entity, formed by the set of convergent human beings of the past, the future
and the present, that have contributed to the progress of civilization);
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The Grand
Fétish (the Earth with all its constituent elements: plants, animals, water,
land etc.);
-
The Grand
Milieu (Cosmic Space, stars and universe).
Correspondence between
the stars and the units of the federation
Everything in our
symbols was based on logical aspects and with well defined purposes, including
the stars on our flag. Each celestial body represents the different
personalities of the states of the federation:
- The stars of
constellation of Crux constellation represent the top five states then: São
Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Espirito Santo;
- The Espiga star,
only one located above the white band represents the state of Para, perhaps
because Belém, the state capital, were the most northern of the country, or
because the state of Pará had been the last state to join the federation
Independence;
- The Federal District
has always been represented by sigma star in the constellation of Octant, also
called Polaris Australis or Southern Polaris; Sigma Octantis have a unique
position in the southern sky, because every other star appear to rotate around
it.
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| Positivist Church in Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro |
The Post-Positivism -
ignored by Brazilians
After World War II the
entire world was terrified by the might and power that were given to people in
government who, from the misuse of their representative offices, took advantage
of the legality offered by positivism to install governments of oppression and
discrimination.
It was impossible to
continue with a legal discourse that preached a rigid, inflexible, and highly
coercive burden devoid of moral law, a merely mechanical Judiciary and
Legislature with complete freedom to "manufacture" of that type of
standard.
When the Brazilian
people realized that the forces that formed their republic falling out of
favor, simply preferred to deny positivism in all its essence, instead of
accepting only the good values of doctrine, or to adopt what was called
post-positivism.
For Karl Popper, one
of the founders of the philosophical movement of post-positivism, the purpose
of science is not to obtain absolutely certain enunciations. The achievement of
absolute truth, in his view, is unattainable.
This is how we,
Brazilians, should review the forces that led us to the republic. The
scientific method applied to public administration should be a quest for a
constant approximation to the truth.
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