COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



at directly expressing the thoughts that are in 

 us, the result of our own observation and re- 

 flection, admitting no phrase which does not 

 assist the exposition of the thought. If, as 

 Buffon said, the style is the man, so also is the 

 habit of thinking the man, save that in the one 

 case as in the other, if it possess any merit, it is 

 the man as modified and cultivated by a com- 

 plex intercourse with phenomena. 



Such is Comte's opinion of logic, — an opin- 

 ion common enough at the present day, but 

 sufficiently novel to be revolutionary forty 

 years ago. That the above views are in the 

 main perfectly sound will now be questioned 

 by no one, nor can it be doubted that they are 

 of the highest importance. When put into 

 practical operation, they are destined to work 

 changes of fundamental importance in our 

 methods of education. Nevertheless, though 

 sound enough as far as they go, these arguments 

 are far from exhibiting the whole truth. Ad- 

 mitting unreservedly that, to become proficient 

 in observation and reasoning, we must learn 

 logic, as we learn grammar and rhetoric, by 

 practical experience, it must still be maintained 

 that there is need of a general doctrine of logic, 

 as indeed there is also need of a general doc- 

 trine of grammar and rhetoric. Though a man 

 may write an excellent style without having 

 studied rhetoric systematically, yet it will be no 

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