bh. x.] COSMTSM AND POSITIVISM. 259 



inheritance of the Objective Method, we are the " heirs of 

 all the ages," and are in nowise especially beholden to Comte. 

 As regards the fifth proposition, concerning the critical 

 attitude of philosophy, the discussion of it does not belong 

 to our Prolegomena but to our Corollaries, since before we 

 can comprehend it we must make sure that we understand 

 what is implied by the Doctrine of Evolution. In the con- 

 cluding chapter of this work it will appear that our dissent 

 from Positivism is practically no less emphatic in respect to 

 the critical attitude of philosophy than in other respects. 

 For the present we can willingly dispense with this proo , as 

 our point will be quite sufficiently established by an examina- 

 tion of the third and fourth propositions above alleged as 

 cardinal alike to Positivism and to Cosmism. 



And first, as regards the fourth proposition, the preceding 

 chapter showed that Comte's conception of the scope and 

 functions of philosophy was by no means the same as that 

 which lies at the bottom of the present work. We have 

 seen that he treated philosophy as merely an Organon of 

 scientific methods, and totally ignored the conception of 

 philosophy as a Synthesis of truths concerning the Cosmos. 

 Now in order to comprehend the full purport of this, we 

 must ask what was Comte's aim in constructing a system of 

 philosophy ? To what end was this elaborate Organon devised ? 

 It was not devised for the purpose of aiding the systematic 

 exploration of nature in all directions, for we have seen that 

 Comte began by discouraging and ended by anathematizing 

 a large class of most important inquiries, chiefly on the 

 ground of their "vainness" or "inutility." To understand 

 the purpose of all this admirable treatment of philosophy 

 as an Organon, we must take into account the statement o: 

 Dr. Bridges that Comte's philosophic aims were not different 

 in his later epoch from what they had been in the earlier 

 part of his career. From the very outset Comte intended to 

 crown his work of reorganizing philosophy by constructing 



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