Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte; 'Auguste Comte' (January 20, 1798 – September 5, 1857)
-
Auguste Comte was a French philosopher and proto-sociologist of the early Modern period, and in August 1817, Comte first met Henri de Saint-Simon, a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman (Mastin, 2009). Reference:
Mastin, L. “Auguste Comte”, The Basics of Philosophy, Jan. 2009, https://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_comte.html -
During this period Auguste Comte was exposed to politics and placed in the public’s eye after he published a great number of articles, which were republished later in 1854 (Bourdeau, 2022). Reference:
Bourdeau, Michel. "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/#Bio -
Auguste Comte published "The Philosophical Considerations on the Sciences and the Scientists" in Le Producteur, n° 7, 8 et 10. This contained the first classical formulations for a cornerstone of positivism: the Law of 3 Stages (Bourdeau, 2022). Auguste also married Caroline Massin this year. Reference:
Bourdeau, Michel. "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/#Bio -
April 1826, began teaching a Course of Positive Philosophy, but was hospitalized because of 'cerebral crisis', or a serious nervous breakdown, which the doctors describe as a brain fever that resulted in insanity. He gradually recovered from his symptoms the following year with help of Caroline (Barnes & Fletcher, 2022). Reference:
Barnes, Harry Elmer and Fletcher, Ronald. "Auguste Comte". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Jan. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Auguste-Comte. -
This time was devoted to the writing and publication of Comte’s philosophical work entitled, Cours de Philosophie Positive, translated into English as The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, a six volume publication (famousphilosophers.org, 2022). In final volume he published a ‘Personal Preface’ and lost remaining ties with the university world (Bourdeau, 2022). Description too long for references, section is in submission assignment text box
-
Auguste Comte tried to create a chair in general history of science, to be responsible for leadership in developing the department's academic program at Collège de France, but failed (Bourdeau, 2022). Reference:
Bourdeau, Michel. "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/#Bio -
Coined the term Sociology for the study of society in a scientific way. In the video "Auguste Comte and Sociology" posted by 'Learning the Social Sciences', the contributions that Auguste Comte made to the field of Sociology can be seen, as well as discussion on Law of Three Stages and positivism (2022). Reference:
“Auguste Comte and Sociology”, YouTube, uploaded by Learning the Social Sciences, Feb. 2022, https://youtu.be/NmoNjmWt2Ws -
This year, Comte met Clotilde de Vaux which launched what Comte called his 'second career', with the theme being the ‘continuous dominance of the heart’, and despite a heavy teaching load, found the time to begin the System of Positive Polity (Bourdeau, 2022). Reference:
Bourdeau, Michel. "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/#Bio -
During this time, Comte fell in love with Clotilde de Vaux but she was married to cheating husband, and thought they were deeply in love, their relationship remained platonic (Biography.com Eds., 2021). They had a romantic and emotional experience until she died from tuberculosis in 1846 (Barns & Fletcher, 2022). After, Comte idolized her and made his love into a centerpiece of his thinking on religion (The School of Life, n.d.).Description too long, submission in assignment text box
-
Auguste Comte was an enthusiastic supporter of the revolution of 1848 and he founded the Positivist Society, modelled after the Club of the Jacobins. He also, published the "General View of Positivism", conceived of as an introduction for the "System" to come, and the "Positivist Calendar" (Bourdeau,2022). CrashCourse created a video titled "Reform and Revolution 1815-1848...Description too long, submission in assignment text box -
In 1849, Auguste Comte founded the Religion of Humanity. The School of Life video titled "SOCIOLOGY - Auguste Comte", shares that Comte invented a religion without a God, and the roughly nine-minute video gives a pretty detailed overview of the religion's formulation (The School of Life, 2016). Additionally, in the book titled, "Auguste Comte and the Religion of Humanity : The Post-theistic Program of French Social Theory...Description too long, submission in assignment text box -
Published 4 Vol's "System of Positive Polity", in which Comte completed his formulation of sociology. His work emphasized morality and its progress as the key focus of human knowledge and gave an account of the political organization this progress would require (Barnes & Fletcher, 2022). Reference:
Barnes, Harry Elmer and Fletcher, Ronald. "Auguste Comte". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Jan. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Auguste-Comte. -
In this time frame, Comte republished work he had accomplished during his time with Saint-Simon, as well as his work on the the philosophy of mathematics announced in 1842, under title "Subjective Synthesis, or Universal System of the Conceptions Adapted to the Normal State of Humanity" (Bourdeau, 2022). Reference
Bourdeau, Michel. "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/#Bio -
Auguste Comte died of cancer September 5, 1857. He had lived long enough to see his writings widely scrutinized throughout Europe; however, many were also influenced by him (Barnes, 2022). Barnes, Harry Elmer and Fletcher, Ronald. "Auguste Comte". Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 Jan. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Auguste-Comte.