Henry Edger (22 January 1820,

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– April 1888,

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) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

positivist active in the nineteenth century. He was one of

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

's ten disciples. After studying Law in

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Edger married Millicent Hobson. Although originally a

protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, he abandoned Christianity in favour of

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. He moved with his family to

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in 1851. Over the next three years two things caught his interest,

Positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

and the

Socialist Community of Modern Times Modern Times was a Utopian community existing from 1851 to 1864 in what is now Brentwood, New York, United States. Founded by Josiah Warren Josiah Warren (; 1798–1874) was an American utopian socialist, American individualist anarchist, ind ...

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

intentional community An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork from the start. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, ...

based on

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. On 9 April 1854 he decided to commit his life to the propagation of the "positivist faith" consecrating his life to "laying the foundation stone" to the Comtean edifice in the New World. Although originally attracted to the

Fourierist Fourierism () is the systematic set of economic, political, and social beliefs first espoused by French intellectual Charles Fourier (1772–1837). Based upon a belief in the inevitability of communal associations of people who worked and lived to ...

community in

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, he stayed there for only a few months. He eventually moved to Modern Times in 1854 for the purposes of spreading positivism. He built an oratory with a steeple attached to his log cabin, and conducted the Comtean religious rites. He further organised a

glee club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

and an orchestra. However aside from his friends John Metcalf and Charles Codman, his efforts to spread positivism had little impact outside his family. He also started a long series of correspondence with Comte which continued until the latter's death in 1857. Although his attempts to spread positivism amongst the inhabitants of Modern Times met with little success, and indeed encountered the hostility of its founder

Josiah Warren Josiah Warren (; 1798–1874) was an American utopian socialist, American individualist anarchist, individualist philosopher, polymath, social reformer, inventor, musician, printer and author. He is regarded by anarchist historians like James ...

, it nevertheless provided a base from which Edger could promote Positivism further afield. With his convert, John Metcalf, he provided a range of Positivist reading material available by mail including ''Modern Times, the Labor question, and the Family'' which he written himself. In 1880 Edger left Modern Times and moved to Paris, where he died in 1888.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edger, Henry Comtism Fourierists Positivists 1820 births 1888 deaths