The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte

Abstract

THE first edition of Miss Martineau's version of the “Positive Philosophy” was published in the autumn of 1853. The considerable space of time which has since elapsed cannot have been due to any defect in the adapter's work. So excellently were the translation and condensation accomplished by Miss Martineau, that Comte substituted her two volumes for his own six volumes, and since Comte's death the work has actually been retranslated into French. It does not give us a great idea of the demand for Comte's works in England, when we find that twenty-two years intervene between the first and second editions. At last, however, the work is re-issued in two handsome volumes, but we are not informed that any alteration at all has been made either in the matter or language of the work, and I have not been able to detect a difference even in a word. The appearance of this new, edition nevertheless affords an opportunity for a few remarks upon the value and pretensions of the “Positive Philosophy.”

The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte,

freely translated and condensed. By Harriet Martineau. In Two Volumes, 8vo. Second Edition. (London: Trübner and Co., 1875.)