Praxiology as the Science of Functions [excerpts]

In order to complete the exposition of general sciences, functions are yet to be mentioned. Specific powers have of course been imagined to explain certain functions, such as life or vital forces and the soul or physical forces; but these imagined agents vested with partial functions arouse serious objections as did the discredited agents of early Physics. Praxiology proceeds differently: it considers beings or organs in their plastic integrity to understand how they work. A. Comte was unable to discern the nature of the science of functions, or to assess the extent of it. Comte was so far from conceiving clearly of the unity of Praxiology that he scattered it between several different sciences. He reduces the analysis of psychic phenomena to what he terms "intellectual physiology" and erring doubly, denies Psychology any value, almost pairing it with astrology, while he considers Gall's Phrenology as a positive science.