BOOK II THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCIENCES

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INTRODUCTION

 

The Philosophy of the Sciences is one of the leading parts of Comte’s work. No other brings out more clearly the essential differences which distinguish his doctrine¹ from previous systems.

 

In Comte’s eyes the philosophy of the sciences is inseparable from the philosophy of history and from the theory of progress. For the sciences are great sociological facts and, as such, are subject, in their evolution, to invariable laws. The method of the philosophy of the sciences could therefore only be the positive method, ever like to itself.

 

Moreover,—and this is an immediate² consequence of this first consideration,—the object of the positive philosophy of the sciences is in no way to “explain” what the sciences themselves do not explain. The sciences, as is well known, do not inquire into their data and their principles. They consider them as sufficiently³ established by the implicit⁴ consent of all men, or at least by the universal usage of learned men. The geometer leaves to others the care of speculating upon the essence of space, or upon the a priori character of his definitions. The physicist⁵, if he form an idea of matter for himself, unhesitatingly adopts the one which appears to be the most immediately advantageous⁶, that is to say, the one which is best in accordance with what he knows of its properties and of its laws. He attributes no more value than that of a simple hypothesis to this idea.

 

Up to the present the business of solving the questions which the scientific man does not examine has belonged to122 the philosopher—understand by this term the metaphysician. It is for him to seek what matter, time, movement, space, etc., may be “in themselves.” Whether he descends⁷ from metaphysics to the positive sciences, or ascends⁸ from the latter to metaphysics, he always endeavours to show that such and such a transcendental hypothesis is more in accordance than any other with what we know to-day of the laws of nature. In a word; the philosophy of the sciences has been, in general, an effort to interpret scientific knowledge metaphysically. This explanation remains⁹ in respect to such a knowledge an “extrinsic denomination¹⁰.” It explains but does not touch it.

 

Now, according to Comte, there are not two forms of knowledge, the one positive and properly speaking scientific the other metaphysical and properly called philosophical¹¹. The whole of our real knowledge in the end bears upon special or general facts. There can therefore be no question of a philosophy which should be essentially¹² distinct from positive knowledge. Any attempt to explain by essences, causes, principles or ends, is excluded by the positive method. Metaphysical problems can no longer be set and, in this sense, when they disappear, the philosophy of the sciences disappears with them.

 

But, on the other hand, as we have already seen, the positive sciences are not self-sufficient. They need to be crowned and ordered by a philosophy. If then a philosophy is indispensable, and if, at the same time, this philosophy must be positive, relative like the sciences themselves, and homogeneous with them, only one solution remains possible. The philosophy of the sciences will consist in substituting the point of view of the whole to that of the parts. It will still be a product of the positive spirit; but in it this spirit from special will have become general; from particular it will have become universal.

 

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This universal character remains common to Comte’s philosophy and to that of his predecessors¹³. But Comte did not understand it as they did. For metaphysicians in general, and still for Kant, universality is the distinctive¹⁴ sign of knowledge which does not come from experience, which is therefore necessary and a priori. Comte, who does not know of any a priori in the Kantian sense, calls that knowledge universal which remains relative, and which is founded upon induction¹⁵, but which regulates the other forms of knowledge in the order of generality. Thus the principle of laws is universal. The encyclop?dic laws of phenomena¹⁶ are universal. The point of view of humanity is universal, because from this point of view a synthesis of the whole of our knowledge is possible. And, as universality is a relative thing, we conceive universalities of different orders.

 

Henceforth the philosophy of the sciences is easily defined. Are we concerned with a certain science considered by itself? The philosophy of this science consists in embracing at a glance the whole, the object and the method, as opposed to the special point of view of the scientific man who follows the discovery of more or less special laws in a branch of this science, but such a philosophy necessarily remains imperfect and fragmentary. The philosophy of a science is only really established in the general philosophy of the sciences, that is to say by a view at once synthetic¹⁸ and single of all the sciences, in which are co-ordinated the objects which they study, the laws which they discover, the methods which they make use of, and the ends which they should pursue.

 

It has been said that this is not a philosophy of the sciences but simply a “synthesis of the most general results of the positive sciences.” Comte partly accepts and partly rejects the objection. If he is reproached with not having constructed a philosophy of the sciences according to the old spirit, that is to say an effort at “explanation,” which goes beyond the124 point of view of positive science, he grants the objection. He considers all philosophy of this kind as out of the question. Is it said that there is no difference between his point of view and that of the scientific man properly so called, unless it be that he successively goes through all the fundamental sciences? Comte calls our attention to the fact that it is not enough to place these sciences side by side to obtain their philosophy. A new point of view, truly universal, although always relative, is needed. How could Comte have distinguished¹⁹ otherwise, in each science, what is lasting²⁰ and in conformity²¹ with the positive spirit from what is decaying and still bears the mark of the theological and metaphysical spirit? Could he especially have fixed²² the relations which the sciences should maintain among themselves, and could he have imposed upon them a discipline whose principle was not to be found in any one of them?

 

Thus, until Auguste Comte’s time, the philosophy of the sciences had been a metaphysical conception, joined more or less closely to the whole of positive knowledge. Comte endeavoured to form a conception of this whole, which should be philosophical while remaining positive. It is this conception which is especially set forth¹⁷ in the three first volumes of the Cours de philosophie positive. From the static point of view it is founded upon the hierarchy²³ of the sciences, the unity²⁴ of the method, and the homogeneity of knowledge. From the dynamic point of view, it endeavours to show the progressive convergence of all the sciences towards sociology, the final and universal science. With this “guiding thread,” Comte will be able to establish in turn the philosophy of each fundamental science, without ever losing sight of the relation which it bears to the whole of the others.

 

1 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

4 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。

5 physicist   

n.物理学家，研究物理学的人

参考例句：

• He is a physicist of the first rank.他是一流的物理学家。
• The successful physicist never puts on airs.这位卓有成就的物理学家从不摆架子。

6 advantageous   

adj.有利的；有帮助的

参考例句：

• Injections of vitamin C are obviously advantageous.注射维生素C显然是有利的。
• You're in a very advantageous position.你处于非常有利的地位。

7 descends   

v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜

参考例句：

• This festival descends from a religious rite. 这个节日起源于宗教仪式。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The path descends steeply to the village. 小路陡直而下直到村子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ascends   

v.上升，攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The azygos vein ascends in the right paravertebral gutter. 奇静脉在右侧脊柱旁沟内上升。 来自辞典例句
• The mortality curve ascends gradually to a plateau at age 65. 死亡曲线逐渐上升，到65岁时成平稳状态。 来自辞典例句

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 denomination   

n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位

参考例句：

• The firm is still operating under another denomination.这家公司改用了名称仍在继续营业。
• Litre is a metric denomination.升是公制单位。

11 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

13 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

15 induction   

n.感应，感应现象

参考例句：

• His induction as a teacher was a turning point in his life.他就任教师工作是他一生的转折点。
• The magnetic signals are sensed by induction coils.磁信号由感应线圈所检测。

16 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

17 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

18 synthetic   

adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品

参考例句：

• We felt the salesman's synthetic friendliness.我们感觉到那位销售员的虚情假意。
• It's a synthetic diamond.这是人造钻石。

19 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

20 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

21 conformity   

n.一致，遵从，顺从

参考例句：

• Was his action in conformity with the law?他的行动是否合法？
• The plan was made in conformity with his views.计划仍按他的意见制定。

22 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

23 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

24 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。