PHENOMENON AND NOUMENON 



ism, in opposition to sundry popular metaphy- 

 sical and theological doctrines ; it is customary 

 to confound our philosophy with Positivism, 

 and thus to accredit us with a whole group of 

 opinions which we unreservedly repudiate. Our 

 philosophy, however, is quite as distinct from 

 Positivism as it is from Idealism or Scepticism, 

 or from the so-called Critical Philosophy of 

 Kant. In all these systems we recognize a germ 

 of truth ; to all of them we acknowledge our 

 indebtedness for sundry all-important sugges- 

 tions ; but to none of them do we owe alle- 

 giance. 



In the case of Positivism, the error is, for 

 reasons just now indicated, one which is likely 

 to be often committed. And on this account I 

 shall, in the course of the following exposition, 

 have frequent occasion to examine and criticise 

 the opinions characteristic of the Positive Phi- 

 losophy. By the time we have arrived at the 

 end of our journey, no possible excuse will be 

 left available for those who would seek to iden- 

 tify our philosophy with Positivism. 



But now for this system of philosophy, which, 

 in our crude outline-sketch, is seen to be dif- 

 ferent from the systems of Locke, Berkeley, 

 Hume, Kant, Hamilton, and Comte, some 

 characteristic title is surely needed. There are, 

 indeed, grave objections to be urged against fet- 

 tering philosophy with names which may very 



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