CHAPTER VII 



ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND 

 COSMISM^ 



THE body of philosophic truth con- 

 tained in the six foregoing chapters can 

 in nowise claim Auguste Comte as its 

 originator. The doctrine of the relativity of 

 knowledge has, as we have seen, been accepted 

 more or less unreservedly by most of the think- 

 ers of the last two centuries ; and has, indeed, 

 never been wholly lost sight of in philosophic 

 speculation since the time of Protagoras. Nev- 

 ertheless the doctrine has been variously inter- 

 preted by different philosophers ; and we have 

 seen that the Positivist interpretation of it, 

 propounded by Littre and Mill, is essentially 

 different from the interpretation given by Mr. 

 Spencer, and here adopted. Again, the doctrine 

 that all knowledge is the product of the inter- 

 course between the sentient organism and its 

 environment is a doctrine which has been held 

 by more than half the philosophic world since 

 the time of Locke. The doctrine that causa- 

 tion, as cognizable by us, is merely uncondi- 

 ^ [See Introduction, § 13.] 

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