COSMIC PHILOSOPHY 



Comte nevertheless falls into substantially the 

 same error with Mr. Buckle, in attempting to 

 explain all social progress as due simply to a 

 progressive alteration of opinion. The error is 

 one which seems to be shared by two other 

 eminent writers, — Mr. Mill and Mr. Lewes. 

 Here are the statements of the four : Mr. Mill 

 says, " We are justified in concluding that the 

 order of human progression in all respects will 

 mainly depend on the order of progression in 

 the intellectual convictions of mankind." ^ Mr. 

 Lewes says, somewhat more vaguely, " The 

 evolutions of Humanity correspond with the 

 evolutions of Thought." ^ Mr. Buckle says, 

 " The progress of mankind depends on the 

 success with which the laws of phenomena are 

 investigated, and on the extent to which a know- 

 ledge of those laws is diffused." ^ Comte says, 

 "It is not to the readers of this work that I 

 think it necessary to prove that ideas govern 

 the world, and that the social mechanism re- 

 poses ultimately upon opinions." * 



Now it is not so much because of what these 

 propositions assert as because of what they 

 omit, that they must be pronounced unsatisfac- 

 tory and misleading. It is beyond question that 



^ System of Logic y 4th edition, vol. ii. p. 517. 

 2 Philosophy of the Sciences y p. 23. 



* History of Civilization y vol. ii. p. i . 



* Philosophie Positivey torn. i. p. 48. 



354 



