We are fortunate in these pages to have seven essays by Angèle

Kremer Marietti, best known in the English-speaking world as a

distinguished interpreter of Comte and Nietzsche. The essays sample

her vast work – forty books authored in forty years – over the entire

history of modern philosophy. To English readers probably the most

striking feature of Marietti's work is her refusal to recognise a break

between so-called 'analytic' and 'continental' traditions in

philosophy. Her ability to see a continuous philosophical

conversation across the traditions and centuries stems from her focus

on science, and especially what could be called the 'positivist

problematique'. By this I mean the attempt to establish a formal

language of thought and inquiry that enjoys the authority of

metaphysics without incurring unjustifiable ontological commitments

traditionally associated with that philosophical discipline. The focus

thus turns to the construction and maintenance of rules of scientific

conduct, otherwise known as methodology.