M. Boutroux to Lecture at 4.30

Mr. Boutroux will deliver the third of his lectures in connection with Philosophy 4 in Emerson J this afternoon at 4.30. His talk will consist of a survey of the conditions of experimental science, and the questions which arise from contrasting its results under the hypothesis of "contingency" or "necessity." The lecture will be open to the public.

Prof. W. James M.'69 on M. Boutroux.

Professor James says of M. Boutroux, "The word 'liberal' seems to have been coined especially to apply to him, so sympathetically has he entered, into the most diverse states of mind interpreting scientific men, philosophers and religious men to each other. His own way of thinking has many points of resemblance to what is known as pragmatism in this country. His effort, since the publishing of his first book, has been to show that concrete life exceeds our powers of abstract formulation, that what we see, feel and think in the world of reality are only approximations which the intellect uses to make fact more amenable to its powers of treatment.

"M. Boutroux's lectures on "Contingence et Liberte" are but an epitome of this, his whole method of thinking. By contingency he means the unforeseeable novelties and variations which are constantly leaking into life, the real movement of which cannot be accurately confined within our intellectual formulas. This theory of M. Boutroux's, which he is now explaining, has radically influenced modern thought in France, yet the moderation with which he applies it has made him the friend of men of the most diverse opinions."

Summary of Second Hyde Lecture.

In the second of the course of Hyde lectures in the New Lecture Hall yesterday afternoon, M. Boutroux continued with a discussion of the philosophy of Auguste Comte.

Many people err by thinking that Comte, being a philosopher, made his doctrine in religion subordinate to his philosophy; as a matter of fact, positivism, the system of philosophy for which Comte is famous, means precisely positive religion, to which positive philosophy, as taught by the "cours de philosophie positive," is only introductory. Thus, positivism is a system which excludes from philosophy all physical relations that are not discovered by observation, experiment, or comparison.

True religion is only the religion of humanity, the effort to contribute to the sum of good already realized by man. This sum of good Comte identifies with a real being, God, and teaches the cult of that grand Being, sublime and eternal.

Like Pascal, Comte starts with a consideration of human nature; Pascal, however, thinks there is in human nature something which surpasses nature proper and directs man towards God; where as Comte considers human nature self-sufficient, and belongs to the category of men who follow the advice of Voltaire; "We ought to cultivate our goodness."