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auguste comte classical philosopher life works legacy philosophy basics philosophy general a quick history what is philosophy western philosophy eastern philosophy african philosophy philosophy map philosophy timeline famous quotes glossary philosophy books faq contact search the site by branch doctrine metaphysics epistemology ethics aesthetics logic political philosophy philosophy of by historical period ancient medieval modern by movement school ancient medieval modern by individual philosopher abelard peter albertus magnus anaxagoras anaximander anaximenes anselm st aquinas st thomas aristotle augustine st averroes ibn rushd avicenna ibn sina ayer alfred bacon roger bacon sir francis bentham jeremy berkeley bishop boethius burke edmund cicero marcus tullius comte auguste democritus derrida jacques descartes rené dewey john diogenes of sinope emerson ralph waldo empedocles epictetus epicurus erasmus desiderius fichte johann gottlieb foucault michel frege gottlob gorgias hegel g w f heidegger martin heraclitus hobbes thomas hume david husserl edmund james william kant immanuel kierkegaard søren leibniz gottfried wilhelm locke john machiavelli niccolò maimonides malebranche nicolas marcus aurelius marx karl mill john stuart moore g e more sir thomas nietzsche friedrich ockham william of parmenides of elea pascal blaise peirce c s philo plato plotinus protagoras pyrrho pythagoras quine w v o rousseau jean jacques russell bertrand ryle gilbert sartre jean paul schelling friedrich schopenhauer arthur scotus john duns smith adam socrates spinoza baruch benedict thales of miletos thoreau henry david voltaire françois marie arouet whitehead alfred north wittgenstein ludwig zeno of citium zeno of elea a huge subject broken down into manageable chunks by individual philosopher auguste comte auguste comte introduction life work books introduction auguste comte painting by louis jules etex auguste comte full name isidore marie auguste françois xavier comte 1798 1857 was a french philosopher and proto sociologist of the early modern period although perhaps best known for coining the terms sociologie sociology and altruisme altruism his most lasting contribution to philosophy is as the founder of the 19th century positivism movement which was based around the belief that the only authentic knowledge is knowledge based on actual sense experience and strict application of the scientific method life comte was born to a strongly catholic and monarchist family in montpellier southwestern france on 17 january 1798 he attended the university of montpellier one of europe s oldest universities and then the école polytechnique in paris a leading scientific institution noted for its adherence to the french ideals of republicanism and progress he was expelled from the école in 1816 after leading a student protest and he was forced to continue his studies at the medical school at montpellier conscious of unbridgeable political and religious differences with his family he had stopped believing in god and taken up the republican cause around the age of fourteen he returned to paris in 1816 supporting himself with odd jobs including tutoring in mathematics in 1817 he became a student and secretary of the utopian socialist thinker henri de saint simon 1760 1825 who brought comte into the wider intellectual society of paris both men were searching in their different ways for a science of human behavior and comte stayed with saint simon until irrevocably breaking with him in 1824 he failed to get the academic position he needed to pursue his own ideas and depended to a large extent on sponsors and financial help from friends during this period in 1825 he married caroline massin but the union proved unhappy and they eventually divorced in 1842 during this period he began to lecture to private audiences of french thinkers and worked on the six volumes of his master work the cours de philosphie positive course of positive philosophy which was published between 1830 and 1842 he lived in penury attempting suicide on at least one occasion in 1845 he fell violently in love with a married woman clotilde de vaux 1815 1846 and although she insisted that their relationship could never be physical she cooperated with him and encouraged him to develop his ideas further when she died of consumption the very next year comte was pushed close to insanity and it was during his mystical phase after this that he began to develop a new universal religion of humanity in 1849 he founded the positivist society still in existence today and he published the four volumes of his système de politique positive between 1851 and 1854 and the catechisme positiviste in 1852 but neither work captured his audience as the course had worn out from his intellectual labors and personal tragedies he died in wretchedness and isolation in paris on 5 september 1857 and is buried at the famous cimetière du père lachaise work comte s main legacy is his influential theory of positivism the idea that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method he saw the scientific method as replacing metaphysics and theology in the history of thought and believed that metaphysics should be replaced by a hierarchy of sciences from mathematics at the base to sociology at the top based on his discussions with condorcet and saint simon comte developed his theory of a universal law which was at work in all societies and sciences and through which progress is inevitable and irreversible he called this the law of three phases the three phases being the theological the pre enlightenment phase in which man s place in society was referenced to god or nature in which the divine will subsume human rights and man blindly believed in whatever he was taught by his ancestors the metaphysical the post enlightenment humanist phase referenced to explanations by impersonal abstract thought and where the universal rights of humanity are most important the positive the final scientific stage in which the search for absolute knowledge is abandoned scientific explanation is based on observation experiment and comparison and individual rights are considered more important than the rule of any one person comte saw the law of three phases as a kind of social evolutionism like g w f hegel before him and karl marx after him he believed that historical development revealed a matching movement of ideas and institutions and that each stage or each science as he formulated it is necessarily dependent on the previous one e g the science of physics was dependent on the earlier science of astronomy comte claimed that the final as yet undiscovered science which had not yet entered its positive stage but which would give ultimate meaning to all the other sciences was what he called sociology the study of socio political systems and social dynamics for comte the goal of positivism had always been moral order and the reformation of the social order it would bring rather than material advances or affluence he saw the need for a scientific industrial elite to oversee the post french revolution industrial society which was evolving and so as well as the concept of positive science he also constructed a non theistic pseudo mystical positive religion with a hierarchical priesthood with himself as high priest positive dogmas and catechism and even a calendar of positive saints which included archimedes aristotle descartes adam smith frederick the great dante gutenberg and william shakespeare among others his most ardent disciple emile littre 1801 1881 who founded the positivist review in 1867 however refused to follow comte into the grey area of this religious fervor which he saw as a product of comte s tired and disturbed mind others led by pierre laffitte maintained both the scientific and the religious teachings of positivism in the schism which developed after comte s death comte s ethical doctrine usually receives less attention but he summed it up in the phrase live for others he was one of the better known proponents of altruism a term he coined or at least popularized himself and he believed that individuals had a moral obligation of to serve others and place their interests above one s own he opposed the idea of individual rights on the grounds that they were not consistent with this ethical obligation auguste comte books see the additional sources and recommended reading list below or check the philosophy books page for a full list disclosure as an amazon associate philosophy basics earns from qualifying purchases made through book links on this site this affiliate revenue directly supports the preservation and operation of this free resource introduction to positive philosophy hackett classics by auguste comte author frederick ferré translator auguste comte and positivism the essential writings history of ideas series by gertrud lenzer editor comte early political writings cambridge texts in the history of political thought by auguste comte author h s jones editor auguste comte volume 1 an intellectual biography auguste comte intellectual biography by mary pickering author search philosophy basics search philosophy what is philosophy by branch doctrine by historical period by movement school by individual philosopher the articles on this site are 2008 2026 if you quote this material please provide a link to the source thank you for supporting philosophy citations faqs inquiries privacy policy