INTRODUCTION 



of M. ComtCj" an essay which has always to 

 be borne in mind in considering Spencer's rela- 

 tion to Positivism and Fiske's discussion of 

 that doctrine. We shall later see (Division III. 

 of this Introduction, especially §§40 and 41) 

 how much Fiske's definition of " Cosmism " 

 was altered before his death. 



14. The criticism of Comte is continued in 

 chapter viii., on the " Organization of the Sci- 

 ences." But here Fiske also returns to his 

 directly expository task ; for after stating the 

 Comtean classification of the sciences, he pro- 

 ceeds to criticise Comte upon the basis of a. 

 statement of Spencer's position in the three 

 essays — " The Genesis of Science," " The 

 Classification of the Sciences," and " On Laws 

 in General, and the Order of their Discovery." 

 These essays are now published in the second 

 volume of the definitive or " Library Edition " 

 of Spencer's " Essays, Scientific, Political, and 

 Speculative." Spencer's classification of the 

 sciences is stated by Fiske in a somewhat 

 abridged form. Chapters ix. and x. of Fiske's 

 text continue the criticism of Comte in a man- 

 ner which does not, for our present purposes, 

 throw any especially new light upon what is 

 distinctive of Fiske's positiof as an expositor 

 of Spencer or as a student of central philoso- 

 phical problems. Chapter ix. deals, after Mill, 

 liv 



