Philosopher and sociologist, the founder of Positivism, born in Montpellier, S France. He studied for a while at Paris, and was for some years a disciple of Saint-Simon. He published his lectures on positivist philosophy in six volumes (183042). He taught mathematics privately, and in his later years was supported by his friends. His Système de politique positive (4 vols, 18514, System of Positive Polity), shows the influence of his brief relationship with Clothilde de Vaux. In his philosophy, all sciences are regarded as having passed through a theological and then a metaphysical stage into a positive or experiential stage; the sociological development is from militarism to industrialism. In positive religion, the object of reverence is humanity, and the aim the well-being and progress of the race.
| Auguste Comte | |
|---|---|
| Auguste Comte | |
| Born | January 17 (recorded January 19), 1798 |
| Died |
September 5, 1857 Paris |
| Spouse | Caroline Massin |
Auguste Comte (full name: Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte;
Life
Comte was born at Montpellier, in southwestern France. Thus Comte had to leave the École, and continued his studies at the medical school at Montpellier.
Soon he saw unbridgeable differences with his Catholic and Monarchist family and left again for Paris, earning money by small jobs. Then in August of 1817 he became a student and secretary for Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, who brought Comte into intellectual society. In 1824, Comte left Saint-Simon, again because of unbridgeable differences.
Comte now knew what he wanted to do: work out the philosophy of positivism. Comte was known as an arrogant, violent and delusional man.
From 1844, Comte was involved with Clotilde de Vaux, a relationship that remained platonic. After her death in 1846 this love became quasi-religious, and Comte saw himself as founder and prophet of a new "religion of humanity".
He died in Paris on September 5th, 1857 and is buried at the famous Cimetière du Père Lachaise.
Legacy
One universal law that Comte saw at work in all sciences he called the 'law of three phases'.
The Theological phase was seen from the perspective of 19th century France as preceding the Enlightenment, in which man's place in society and society's restrictions upon man were referenced to God. By the "Metaphysical" phase, he was not referring to the Metaphysics of Aristotle or any other ancient Greek philosopher, but for Comte was rooted in the problems of French society subsequent to the revolution of 1789. By combining these laws, Comte developed a systematic and hierarchical classification of all sciences, including inorganic physics (astronomy, earth science and chemistry) and organic physics (biology and for the first time, physique sociale, later renamed sociologie).
This idea of a special science—not the humanities, not metaphysics—for the social was prominent in the 19th century and not unique to Comte. The ambitious—many would say grandiose—way that Comte conceived of it, however, was unique.
Comte saw this new science, sociology, as the last and greatest of all sciences, one that would include all other sciences, and which would integrate and relate their findings into a cohesive whole.
Comte’s explanation of the Positive philosophy introduced the important relationship between theory, practice and human understanding of the world. (1974 reprint). The positive philosophy of Auguste Comte freely translated and condensed by Harriet Martineau. 27.)
He coined the word "altruism" to refer to what he believed to be a moral obligations of individuals to serve others and place their interests above one's own.
As already mentioned, Comte formulated the law of three stages, one of the first theories of the social evolutionism: that human development (social progress) progresses from the theological stage, in which nature was mythically conceived and man sought the explanation of natural phenomena from supernatural beings, through metaphysical stage in which nature was conceived of as a result of obscure forces and man sought the explanation of natural phenomena from them until the final positive stage in which all abstract and obscure forces are discarded, and natural phenomena are explained by their constant relationship.
In Comte's lifetime, his work was sometimes viewed skeptically because he had elevated Positivism to a religion and had named himself the Pope of Positivism. but because others, notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet, had begun to use that term in a different meaning, Comte felt the need to invent the neologism, "sociology," a hybrid of the Latin "socius" ("friend") and the Greek "λόγος" (logos, "word").
Comte is generally regarded as the first Western sociologist (Ibn Khaldun having preceded him in the East by nearly four centuries). Comte's emphasis on the interconnectedness of social elements was a forerunner of modern functionalism. Nevertheless, as with many others of Comte's time, certain elements of his work are now viewed as eccentric and unscientific, and his grand vision of sociology as the centerpiece of all the sciences has not come to fruition. Despite his advocacy of quantitative analysis, Comte saw a limit in its ability to help explain social phenomena.
Three Stages
"Each department of knowledge passes through three stages. the metaphysical or abstract stage, and positive stage" -Comte
Theological Stage Metaphysical or Abstract Stage Positive Stage
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