686 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



apparent differentiations, of the one underlying Will, 

 the active principle of all Beality. Schopenhauer arbi- 

 trarily conceived of the whole process in a . pessimistic 

 sense. Comte, following the optimism of some of his 

 predecessors, takes a hopeful view of the future pro- 

 gress of humanity, although he ridicules Condorcet's 

 doctrine of the unlimited Perfectibility of the human 

 race and foreshadows an ultimate decline, inevitable 

 for all, even the highest, creations of nature. 1 



Though the title of a system has been denied to 

 Comte's philosophy, we must admit that he had before 

 his mind the two supreme aims of all philosophical 

 thinking : the unification of knowledge, and the for- 

 mation of a reasoned creed. His conceptions of the 

 unification are indeed peculiar. Unification means with 

 him essentially order or arrangement. His unity is 

 essentially that of harmony ; it is not a unity of thought 

 or method, it is one of tactics or organisation. And 

 so far as the reasoned creed is concerned he, especially 

 in his later writings, mitigates his opposition to theology 

 by directing it against a religious doctrine which centres 

 in a superhuman reality. He reintroduces the term 

 " religion " into his scheme, but it is a religion of this 



1 " II serait d'ailleurs evidem- 

 ment oiseux de s'arreter maiute- 

 nant. en aucune maniere, a la 

 determination premature'e du car- 

 actere extreme que devra prendre, 

 dans un avenir tres-lointain, le 

 veritable esprit philosophique, tou- 

 jours dispose a reconnaitre, sans 

 aucun vain desespoir, toute des- 

 tine'e clairement inevitable, quand 

 l'age du de"clin deviendra pro- 

 chain, afin d'en adoucir convenable- 



ment 1'amertume naturelle, en y 

 soutenant noblement la dignite" 

 humaine. Ce n'est point a ceux 

 qui sortent a peine de 1'enfance 

 qu'il appartient de^a de preparer 

 leur vieillesse : cette pre"tendue 

 sagesse conviendrait certainement 

 encore moins pour la vie collective 

 que pour la vie individuelle. " 

 ( ' Cours de Philosophic Positive,' 

 vol. vi. p. 850.) 



