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Leader (1850-1860), 10th April 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 21

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      The School Fob Fathebs. The Sc7iool For ...

      light , merely touching her hand and waist , her toilet not defraichie by him ; see him conduct her the proper number of turns and stop every now and then , before either of them can look ugly or disarranged from heat and lack of breath ; and then see the cavalier ' s polite inclination when they are about to start again ! Some persons say the polka is " so ungraceful" and " such a romp . " The English with , as I before said , some bright exceptions—make it so : but then it is « great fan" " so easy . " Papas and mammas allow it , and tell their daughters they should not permit their . partners to hold theni so . tight ,- and the young lady ' s dresses are made- dingy by the young gentleman ' s black . coat sleeve around her . Imagine a JParisienne allowing such a thing or a Parisien being guilty of it ! ] 3 ut so it is here , and parents say not " nay" and the sport continues ; and then comes a descent for ice , in which , there is " more fun" the young lady talks nonsense , and the young gentleman draws her out to a large extent : especially if he is a good match , or very good-looking ; and that over , he hands her back to her mamma again !"

      Apbh- 10 > 1852.] The Leader. 353

      Apbh- 10 > 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 353

      Books On Our Table. Pauperism And Foot L...

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Pauperism and Foot Laws . By R . Pashlen . Longman , Brown , Green , and Co Memoirs and Resolutions ofAdam Graeme of Mossgray . 3 vols . Colburn and Co Yankee Stories and Dashes of American Sutnour . By H . H . Paul . Piper , Brothers , end Co The Reasoner . Part XXXII . James Watson The Rambler . Part MI . Burns and Lambert Kniaht ' s Pictorial Shakspere—Coriolanus . > Charles Knight Curiosities of Industry and the Applied Sciences . Part VII . Charles Knight The Companion of Shakspere—Facts connected with the Life and Writings of William Shales pere Part III . Charles Knight Restoration of Belief . a . MarauUan and Co Five Tears' Progress of the Slave Power . B . B . Mussey and Co Technologicalj Etymological , and Pronouncing Dictionary . Vol . 1 . By John Craig . G . Eoutledge and Co . Jfarratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland . 2 vols . By G . H . Burton . Chapman and Hail , Bohn ' 8 Scientific Library—The Chess Tournament . By H . Staunton . H . G . Bohn , J 3 ohn's Antiquarian Library—The Works of Sir Thomas Browne . Vol . III . By Simon'Wilkin . H . G- Bohn . Bohn's Classical Library—The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero . Vol . III . By C . D . Yonge . H . G . Bohn . Bohn ' s Standard Library—The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds . 2 vols . By H . W . Beekhy . H . G . Bohn . Bohn , ' 8 Scientific Library—The Soul in Nature . By H . C . Oersted . H . G . Bohn . Mundus Dramaticus . A Satire . H . Lacy . Tait ' s Edinburgh Magazine . Sutherland and Knoa :. Orammaire Francaise . Par M . A . Eoche . P . Bolandi .

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      We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...

      We should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .

      Comte's Positive Philosophy. By G. H. Le...

      COMTE'S POSITIVE PHILOSOPHY . By G . H . Lewes . Part II ,- —General Considerations on the Aim and Scope of Positivism . There is one very injurious , very intelligible mistake current on the subject of the Positive Philosophy . It is supposed-to be a thing of dry , severe science , only interesting to scientific men—only presenting the scientific aspect of the world , and leaving untouched the great world of emotion , of art , of morality , of religion ; a philosophy which may amuse the intellect of the speculative few , but can . never claim the submission of the mass . The mistake is injurious , because the thinking world happens , unfortunately , to be divided into two classes—men of science destitute of a philosophy ,

      because incompetent , for the most part , to the thorough grasp of those generalities vvhich form a philosophy ; and metaphysicians , whose tendency towards generalities causes them to disdain the creeping specialities of physical science . Thus , between Science which ignores Philosophy , and Philosophy which ignores Science , Comte is in danger of being set aside altogether , I shall endeavour to convince the reader , that the Positive Philosophy must necessarily reconcile these discrepancies , and that while rendering due recognition to the specialities of experimentalists , it gives full scope . to the generalizing tendency of philosophers . Meanwhile , the moralist , the metaphysician , and the man of letters , may be assured , that if Comte ' s system has one capital distinction more remarkable than another , it is the absolute predominance of the moral point of view—the rigorous

      subordination of science to morals . Speculation , as a mere display of intellectual energy , it denounces ; science , as commonly understood , it looks upon with something of the feeling which may move the moralist contemp lating the routine of pin-makers . The half-repugnant feeling about science , in the minds of literary men , artists , and moralists , is a natural and proper insurgence of the emotions against the domineering tendency of the intellect : they know that the moral life is larger and more intense than the intellectual life—tliey know that this moral life has its needs , which no science can pretend to regulate , and they reject a philosophy which speaks to them only of the Laboratory . But in Comte » - ciencc has no such position . It is the basis upon which the social superstructure may be raised . It gives Philosophy materials and a Method : that

      ^ It the Positive Philosophy be anything , it is a Doctrine capable of em-^ inenig "N tfint can regulate Humanity j not a treatise on physical science , uctV tleatise on 80 c » ai science , but a system which absorhs all intellectual no ^ l " l ' ositivism , " he says , in his recent Work , " is essentially com-I e < ol a Philosoph y and a Polity , which are necessarily inseparable because 1 * y constitute the basis and aim of a system wherein intellect and socininissl m ° inti ?\ . el J connected . " And farther on , " This then is the In f ? ostovism : to generalize science , and to systematize sociality . " for wor < j 8 , it aims at creating a Philosophy of the Sciences as a basis tin , nevv \ HOC'nl faith . A social doctrine is the aim of Positivism , a scienc aoctnn e tlio means ; just us in man , intelligence ia the minister and

      interpreter of life . " En effet si le cceur doit toujours poser les questions e ' est toujours a 1 ' espritqu'il appartient de les resoudre . " So much for the aim . Let me now call attention to Comte ' s initial conceptions ; and first , to the luminous conception of all the sciences- ^ --physical and social—as branches of one Science , to be investigated on one and the * same Method .

      To say that Science is , one , and that the Method should "be one , may , to the hasty reader , seem more like a truism than a discovery ; but on inquiry he will find , that before Comte , although a general idea of the connexion of the physical sciences was prevalent , yet , as may be seen in Mrs . Soinerville ' s work , or in Herschell ' s Discourse , it was neither very precise , nor very profound ; nor had any one thought of a Social Science issuing from the Physical Sciences , and investigated on the same method . In fact , to talk

      of moral questions being reduced to a positive science will even now be generally regarded as absurd . Men use the phrase " social science , " " ethical science , " but they never mean thereby that ethics form one branch of the great tree , rising higher than the physical sciences , but rising from the same root . On the contrarj r , they interpret ethical phenomena upon metaphysical or theological methods , and believe History not to be under the governance of Laws , but under the governance of human caprice .

      The second initial conception which I would ask the reader to familiarize his mind with , is that of the Fundamental Law of human development v—There are but three phases of intellectual evolution—for the individual as for the mass—the Theological , or Supernatural , the Metaphysical , and the Positive . I shall hereafter illustrate this law in detail , and may content myself with a very brief indication now . In the Supernatural phase the mind seeks causes j it aspires to know the essences of things , and the how and

      why of their operation . It regards all effects as the productions of supernatural agents . Unusual phenomena are interpreted as the signs of pleasure or displeasure of some God . In the Metaphysical phase , a modification takes place , the supernatural agents are set aside for abstract forces or entities supposed to inhere in various substances , and capable of engendering phenomena . In the Positive phase the mind , convinced of the futility of all inquiry into causes and essences , restricts itself to the observation and classification of phenomena , and to the discovery of the invariable relations of succession and similitude which all things bear to each other—in a word ,

      to the discovery of the laws of phenomena . The third initial conception is that beautiful classification of the sciences coordinated by the luminous principle of commencing with the study of the simplest ( most general ) phenomena , and proceeding successively to the most complex and particular j thus arranging the sciences according to their dependence on each other . The three great conceptions just stated lean expect no one to appreciate until he has applied them . But how would he appreciate any general conception—say the law of gravitation—if it were simply presented to him as a formula which he had not verified ? Let an honest verification of the

      three formulas be made , and I have the deepest conviction that no competent mind will fail to recognise them as the grandest contributions to philosophy since Descartes and Bacon inaugurated the positive method . And now a word on the part Positivism is to play in the coming years of struggle . That a new epoch is dawning , that a new form of social life is growing up out of the ruins of feudalism , the most superficial observer cannot fail to see ; and as signs of the deep interest now agitating society , no less than as evidence of the indestructible aspiration after an Ideal which has always moved mankind , the systems of Communism so confidently promulgated , attract the attention of most thinkers . But can any system

      JL ' ^ - ^ Aft > - ¦ A _ V # <¦ of Communism yet devised be accepted as an efficient solution of the social problem ? I think not ; and for this reason : Communism is simply a political solution of a problem which embraces far deeper and higher questions than politics . As an Ideal I accept Communism ; but I think it the goal towards which society tends , not a path by whi ^> the goal may be reached . Neither cooperation , nor watchwords of fraternity , however sincerely translated into action , can pretend to compass the whole problem . For let us suppose the political question settled ; let us imagine a parallelogram of harmonious success —a human beehive of cooperative activity , — will all be settled then ? Will not the deep and urgent questions of

      Religion and Philosophy still demand an answer ? Just where man most obviously rises above the bee , Communism leaves him to the care of Priests and Teachers , who cannot agree among themselves ; and inasmuch as all polity is founded on a system of ideas believed in common , inasmuch as you cannot in social problems isolate the political from the moral , the moral from the religious system , Communism leaves society to its anarchy . The present anarchy of politics arises from the anarchy of ideas . The ancient faiths are shaken where they are not sheltered . The new faith which must replace them is still to come . What Europe wants is a

      Doctrine that will embrace the whole system of our conceptions , that will satisfactorily answer the questions of Science , Life , and Religion j teaching us our relations to the World , to Duty , and to God . . A mere glance at the present state of Europe will detect the want of unity , caused by the absence of anv one Doctrine general enough to embrace the variety of questions , and positive enough to carry with it irresistible conviction . I make this reservation , because Catholicism has the requisite generality , but fails in convincing Protestants . The existence of sects is enough to prove , if proof were needed , that none of the Religions are competent to their mission of

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1852, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041852/page/21/