ABSTRACT
A general statement of any system of philosophy may be either a sketch of a doctrine to be established, or a summary of a doctrine already established. In order to understand the true value and character of the positive philosophy, we must take a general view of the progressive course of the human mind, regarded as a whole, for no conception can be understood otherwise than through its history. Though involved with the physiological, social phenomena demand a distinct classification, on account of both their importance and their difficulty. The human mind, by its nature, employs in its progress three methods of philosophizing, the character of which is essentially different, and even radically opposed: namely, the theological method, the metaphysical, and the positive. The psychologists have done some good in keeping up the activity of our understandings, when there was no better work for our faculties to do; and they may have added something to political theorists stock of knowledge.
