| Abstract: | Comte's philosophy of science is re-examined from the point of view of the rationalist problematic of the unity of knowledge. It is argued that Comte's attempt to answer this metaphysical problem is the single most important factor determining the final form of his system of positive philosophy, his hierarchy of the sciences, his conception of sociology, and ultimately his positive religion of Humanity. After rejecting the main solutions offered by modern rationalism, Comte provides a subjective unity for the sciences by establishing Humanity as the principle of organization for all knowledge. The article describes the various components of the positive synthesis, their background in the history of ideas, and the contemporary relevance of the problem of unity for logical empiricism and Husserl. Some have said that need for unity expresses the identity of the self; others, that it stands for economy of thought. Possibly, but this is interpretation, psychologically or sociologically tinged. The need for unity is a historical fact and, as such, unresolved. It is also a symbol of science, and its myth. Science is a finely defined and articulated system of symbols; but the ultimate symbol, that of unity, can have no referent. Rather one might say it stands for the totality of the knowable and the unknowable. A confusing situation for the scientific mind, but one it cannot escape. For the conflict at the heart of rationalism is the source of its strength, as long as it lasts. Once the faith is lost, something else has to be found. Under the relentless pressure of social change, with the growing operationalism of physical theory and the metaphysical devastations attendant on Darwinism, the myth of unity could no longer hold. It had to be replaced by unification. But with that the status of science is changed and also that of the scientist. The mirror of nature that reason had endeavored to build up through the ages is shattered, and we look for the first time straight out into an unknown world. |
