Comte's philosophy of the sciences : being an exposition of the principles of the Cours de philosophie positive of Auguste Comte / by G.H. Lewes.
- George Henry Lewes
- Date:
- 1871
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Comte's philosophy of the sciences : being an exposition of the principles of the Cours de philosophie positive of Auguste Comte / by G.H. Lewes. Source: Wellcome Collection.
25/376 page 9
![predominance of the moral point of view—the rigorous subordination of the intellect to the heart. Speculation, as a mere display of intellectual energy, it denounces ■ science, as commonly understood, it looks upon with something of the feeling which may move the moralist contemplating the routine of pin-makers. The half-repug- nant feeling about science, in the minds of literary men, artists, and moralists, is a natural and proper insurgence of the emotions against the domineering tendency of the intellect: men know that the moral life is larger and more intense than the intellectual life—they know that this moral life has its needs, which no science can pre- tend to regulate, and they reject a philosophy which speaks to them only of the Laboratory. But in Comte, Science has no such position. It is the basis upon which the social superstructure may he raised. It gives Phi- losophy materials and a Method • that is all. If the Positive Philosophy be anything, it is a doc- trine capable of embracing all that can regulate Hu- manity ; not a treatise on physical science, not a treatise on social science, but a system which absorbs all intel- lectual activity. “ Positivism,” he says, in his recent work, is essentially composed of a Philosophy and a Polity which are necessarily inseparable because they constitute the basis and aim of a system wherein intellect and sociability are intimately connected.” And farther on ibis then is the mission of Positivism : to gene- ralize science, and to systematize sociality.” In other words it aims at creating a Philosophy of the Sciences as a basis for a new social faith. A social doctrine is ic of Positivism, a scientific doctrine the means; just as m man, intelligence is the minister and in- terpreter of life. - En effet, si le cceur doit toujours poser les ?esoudreS”C t0Uj0urs k FesPnt ^ appartient de ComteThfip0] tHe a™: Let me now cal1 attention to Lomte s initial conceptions j and first, to the luminous](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24861510_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
