ion of
tolerable well-being, than the exhibition (and such, we think, is here
presented to us) of a strong mind palpably at fault in its attempt to
substitute, out of its own theory of man, a better foundation for the
social structure than is afforded by the existing unphilosophical medley
of human thought. Upon that portion of the _Cours de Philosophie
Positive_ which treats of the sciences usually so called, we do not
intend to enter, nor do the general remarks we make apply to it. Our
limited object is to place our reader at the point of view which M.
Comte takes in his new science of Sociology; and to do this with any
justice to him or to ourselves, in the space we can allot to the
subject, will be a task of sufficient difficulty.

And first, as to the title of the work, _Philosophie Positive_, which
has, perhaps, all this while been perplexing the reader. The reasons
which induced M. Comte to adopt it, shall be given in his own words;
they could not have been appreciated until some general notion had been
given of the object he had in view.

"There is doubtless," he says, in his _Avertissement_, "a close
resemblance between my _Philosophie Positive_, and what the
English, especially since the days of Newton, understand by
_Natural Philosophy_. But I would not adopt this last
expression, any more than that of _Philosophy of the Sciences_,
which would have perhaps been still more precise, because
neither of these has yet been extended to all orders of
phenomena, whilst _Philosophie Positive_, in which I comprehend
the study of the social phenomena, as well as all others,
designs a uniform manner of reasoning applicable to all
subjects on which the human mind can be exerted. Besides which,
the expression _Natural Philosophy_ is employed in England to
denote the aggregate of the several sciences of observation,
considered even in their most minute details; whereas, by the
title of _Philosophie Positive_, I intimate, with regard to the
several positive sciences, a study of them only in their
generalities, conceiving them as submitted to a uniform method,
and forming the different parts of a general plan of research.
The term which I have been led to construct is, therefore, at
once more extended and more restricted than other
denominations, which are so far similar that they have
reference to the same fundame