Has been to clear the great question as to man's nature, and the
proper way of regarding him, from the confusion at present
surrounding it 317

And to show that the answer will finally rest, not on outer
evidence, but on himself, and on his own _will_, if he have
a will 319




NOTE.


In this book the words '_positive_,' '_positivist_,' and '_positivism_'
are of constant occurrence as applied to modern thought and thinkers. To
avoid any chance of confusion or misconception, it will be well to say
that these words as used by me have no special reference to the system
of Comte or his disciples, but are applied to the common views and
position of the whole scientific school, one of the most eminent members
of which--I mean Professor Huxley--has been the most trenchant and
contemptuous critic that 'positivism' in its narrower sense has met
with. Over 'positivism' in this sense Professor Huxley and Mr. Frederic
Harrison have had some public battles. Positivism in the sense in which
it is used by me, applies to the principles as to which the above
writers explicitly agree, not to those as to which they differ.

W.H.M.