Subject: Re: CCL:Auguste Comte on Mathematical Methods in Chemistry

From: Konrad Hinsen <hinsen^at^cnrs-orleans.fr>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 11:24:41 +0100

On Thursday 08 January 2004 13:39, Jens Spanget-Larsen wrote:

> I got it several years ago from an Internet page, without any
> details. Does anybody know this text? A. Comte must be the
> philosopher Auguste Comte, and the year 1830 may indicate his
> work "Cours de philosophie positive" which was published in
> this and the following years. But what can he have meant? Any
> comments?

I have seen that quote with the explicit attribution to the "Cours de 
philosophie positive" by Auguste Comte, but I never verified it. A large part 
of that book deals with the philosophy of science, so it would fit in there. 
I suppose he refers to the potential contradiction between the empirical 
approach of science (including chemistry) and the deductive approach of 
mathematics, but that's just a guess.
-- 
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