Abstract

This paper is an introduction to “Auguste Comte and the Positivism” by William Whewell. The author claim that the Comte’s ideas were considered in Whewell’s essay only as an excuse to declare general protest against critical attitude in its relation to scientific and social life, and also both to the evolution of nature and science, and to the development of the social order. This work could be considered as the last manifesto of the so-called “old European semantics” with the doctrine of “truth perfectionism”, which presumes an achievement of final stage of scientific development and an approval of ultimate scientific truths.