12 iMILE BOUTROUX 



itself triumphantly and without restraint in 

 the art and literature of Romanticism. 



Conditions are not the same today; and 

 there is really place for the question whether 

 the pretensions of science, so often renewed, 

 to govern by her sole power, not only all hu- 

 man knowledge but all human life, are not on 

 the verge of a final triumph. The general 

 evolution of humanity could in that case be 

 formulated thus: from man to things, from 

 feeling to reason, from art to science. 



The science of today, the apostles of "Sci- 

 entism" say, is aware of possessing certitude. 

 The science of today rests on facts and logic 

 and the history of human thought, as well as 

 the analysis of human knowledge, has demon- 

 strated that the observation of facts combined 

 with logic is the only means of reaching that 

 complete agreement between different minds, 

 apart from which there is no such thing as 

 true certitude. 



That is not all. Claiming for its domain 

 all objects the knowledge of which can be 

 gained by experience and logic, science has 

 the right not only to claim the possession of 



