430 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



n. 



Character- 

 istic differ- 

 ences m 



' 



12. 

 comte. 



century than they are in our day, can be traced also in 

 th e wa y they consciously or unconsciously attacked this 



J J J J 



problem. French thinkers, who were probably the first 

 in modern times to approach the subject, did so in a 

 scientific spirit and upon the basis of a few simple 

 generalisations which they attempted to work out logic- 

 ally ; German thinkers progressed in a more speculative 

 manner with a deeper appreciation of the vastness of the 

 subject, which required, in their opinion, extensive 

 research as well as speculative construction. English 

 thought in the last instance was not as revolutionary as 

 French thought nor as speculative as that of Germany, 

 but it made the earliest successful attempts to deal 

 patiently and elaborately with single restricted prob- 

 lems as they presented themselves through the work 

 of the age and pressed for practical solution. These 

 differences more or less disappeared in the course of 

 the century, a term being introduced which enabled 

 the various contributions of separate schools or isolated 

 thinkers to crystallise into a definite problem. As a 

 result of this a distinct science has sprung up under 

 the name of sociology : this term was introduced by 

 Comte in France. Though frequently found fault with, 

 it has nevertheless now been accepted in the language 

 and literature of all civilised countries. From being 

 in the beginning a stranger and newcomer among the 

 different members of the philosophical body, sociology 

 has gradually usurped the central and leading position, 

 and this under the influence of additional causes which 

 it is important to explain somewhat more closely. 



The first of these causes may be termed a theoretical 



