Auguste

Auguste Comte

By matkelton
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    Overview

    Auguste Comte, also known as the Father of Sociology, was born on 19 January 1798 in Montpellier, Hérault. A city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea during the reign of the French First Republic. Auguste Comte was a French Philosopher who made his living like most philosophers in those days as a teacher, mentor, publisher, and political philosopher. He died at the age of 59 years of age on the 5th of September in Paris, France.

  • Adoption of the Scientific Method

    Similarly to how the gravitational theory became explainable through the revolutions of the planets, Comte sought to explain social phenomena through laws. Comte wanted to systemize and innovate social planning through scientific analysis and implemented this using a new, secularized spiritual order in an attempt to replace Christianity.
    Harry Elmer Barnes, and Ronald Fletcher. “Auguste Comte - Thought.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 31 May 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Auguste-Comte/Thought.

  • The Philosophical Considerations on the Sciences and the Scientists

    Comte introduced a critical concept in this book, considered to be the "cornerstones of positivism": the law of the three stages. The law of the three stages adapts the previous theological way of thinking into a more modern positive stage where explanations are made by slowly transitioning to relying on human knowledge rather than gods and spirits.
    Bourdeau, Michel. “Auguste Comte (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).” Stanford.edu, 1 Oct. 2008, plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/.

  • Classification of the Sciences

    Comte believed sciences logically developed and ranged from simple understandings to complex understandings. Comte's belief was that science had the capability to evolve from mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology- determined and classified by the preceding stage.
    Cogswell, G. A. “The Classification of the Sciences.” The Philosophical Review, vol. 8, no. 5, 1 Sept. 1899, pp. 494–512, w.pdcnet.org/phr/content/phr_1899_0008_0005_0494_0512.