-
Formative Years
Comte met and began working with Saint-Simon shortly after being dismissed from the École Polytechnique. Working with Saint-Simon gave Comte the opportunity to take advantage of the freedom of the press while learning about and forming his philosophy. From this time period Comte took three main ideas. First, the differences between organic and critical periods in history. Second, the idea of industrial society. And lastly, the idea of spiritual power. -
Course of Positive Philosophy
Comte began teaching a Course of Positive Philosophy many famous scientists where in his audience. The Course has two goals, first to provide a foundation for sociology and second to coordinate positive knowledge. The first three volumes of the Course explore the five fundamental sciences of the time which were mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology. The last three volumes though are for social science, where Comte was founding Sociology. (Bourdeau, 2021) -
Resumption of the Course of Positive Philosophy
After Comte recovered from his accident he resumed the Course of Positive Philosphy and over the next thirteen years published the six volumes of the Course in 1830, 1835, 1838, 1839, 1841, and 1842 respectively. The course explains the law of three stages which states that “In its development, humanity passes through three successive stages: the theological, the metaphysical, and the positive.” (Bourdeau, 2021). -
The System of Positive Polity
Positive politics has two principles: there can be no society without government, and properly functioning societies also require a separate spiritual power. On the negative side of the first Comte’s lack of interest in the concept of State is discussed, while the positive argues we must understand how social life works to understand why there is a need for government. The second focuses on spirituality, where Comte saw science as a “spiritual basis of social order” (Bordeau, 2021) -
References
Bourdeau, Michel, "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2021/entries/comte/.