AUGUSTE COMTE

Auguste Comte | Biography, Books, Sociology, Positivism, & Facts

SECTION A : BACKGROUND

Background
- He is known as an ungrateful, self-centred person and has an egocentric personality.
- However, he had a great passion for the welfare of humanity as he devoted untiringly to
promote his idea about the improvement of society.

Social
➔ During the time Comte lived, it was the aftermath of the French revolution.
➔ He also lived through the Napoleonic period.
➔ During this time a new and stable social order was sought, it was also supposed to
be one without a dictatorship.
➔ Transformation of the industrial revolution, science and technology was happening all
across European societies - this was something no one understood.
➔ Things the people of the time experienced :
➢ Violent conflicts.
➢ They were not attached to their thoughts, feelings and actions.
➢ They didn't believe in the institutions, beliefs and sentiments that were
established during that time.
➔ During this time 2 things swept through France :
➢ Republicanism : this is centred around citizenship in a state that is recognized
as a republic.
➢ Scepticism : the attitude of doubting.
➔ Important French political philosophers at that time :
➢ Montesquieu : his Spirit of Law was a major contribution the political theories.
➢ Anne - Robert - Jacques Turgot : he was a French economist who tried to
reform finances at the time, but unfortunately the privileged classes hindered
his efforts.
➢ Joseph de Maistre : after the French revolution left him uprooted, he became
an advocate for conservative traditions.
➔ All these people heavily influenced Comte’s work, and were sewn into his system of
thoughts
Family

- Father : Louis Comte (he was a tax officer)

- Mother : Rosalie Boyer
- Both his parents were strongly royalist and devoted Roman Catholics
- Royalist : a person who supports the idea of having a monarchy
- Comte rejected the idea of royalism and Roman Catholicism at a young age
- Caroline Massin ( 2 July 1802 - 27 January 1877 ) - wife
- Praised her for her kindness, grace, wit, and cheerful disposition
- Married Massin in 1825
- Massin did give Comte the needed support when he produced one of his most
important works, the 6 volume Cours de philosophie positive (1830-1842; course on
positive philosophy).
- Most important part of the support came when he had a mental breakdown for more
than a year after he had begun his work on the series of 72 lectures in which the
book grew. ( 1826 - 1827 )
- He was judged as incurably insane by a physician, and attempted suicide ( 1827 )
( man survived )
- However, the marriage was unhappy, and often violent due to financial problems
- Comte thought that Massin was unfaithful, and the 2 separated in 1842 after 17 years
- In 1845, he had a romantic & emotional experience with Clotilde de Vaux, who
unfortunately died in 1846 due to tuberculosis.

Academic

- Was intellectually precocious

- In 1814, joined École Polytechnique - a school previously built to train military
engineers but soon switched to a school for advanced science.
- The school was however close in 1816
- Soon after, he decided to stay in Paris permanently, occasionally taught maths as
well as jobs like journalism.
- Interested in philosophy and history
- Especially interested in thinkers who started looking into the history of human society
- French political philosophers at the time were critically worked into his systems of
thought such as Montesquieu, the Marquis de Condorcet, A.-R.-J. Turgot, and
Joseph de Maistre
Professional
➔ He was proved to be an amazing mathematician and scientist
➔ After he left school early and settled in Paris, he earned a modest living teaching
mathematics and journalism.
➔ He taught all this, while studying economics, philosophy and history.
➔ After he met Saint-Simon at the age of them, Saint-Simon became his mentor and
partner, but the partnership met an abrupt end in 1824.
➔ Before his nervous breakdown, he used to give lectures on his idea of a system of
positive philosophy for a small group of people.
➔ Once he recovered, he went on to give his lecture series again, this time in the Royal
Athenaeum.
➔ For the 12 years after that, he devoted his time to publishing his work in philosophy.
➔ From 1832 to 1842 Comte was a tutor and then an examiner at the revived École
Polytechnique.
➔ In the latter year he quarrelled with the directors of the school and lost his post, along
with much of his income.

SECTION B : CONTRIBUTIONS

Ideas and theories that they proposed for sociology

➔ System of positive philosophy.
➔ He gave lectures on this before he had a serious nervous breakdown.
➔ His formulation of sociology emphasised the idea of morality as being the centre of
concentration of human knowledge.
➔ He also thought that in order for this to happen there would have to be some sort of
political organisation.
➔ Comte’s driving force was for the welfare of humanity, and a lot of his ideas follow
along this line.
➔ He devoted his entire life to promote and systemise his ideas so that they could be
applied to improve society.
➔ Positivism : a system of philosophy based on things that can be seen or proved
➔ It is an approach to the study of society that relies on scientific evidence (statistics,
experiments, etc) to reveal how the society truly operates
 ➔ Comte had an idea for a hypothetical framework for society that was similar to the
hierarchy and discipline that the Roman Catholic Church practised
➔ He got the idea for this from several French clericalist
➔ Saint - Simon was Comte’s mentor, and he inspired him to come up with a social
science that would explain the social organisations that already existed and to guide
future plans
➔ He ended up calling this new science : sociology
➔ Comte theorised that laws could come from reducing social phenomena
➔ Comte believed that there was a need for a new spiritual order that would replace
what he called “outdated supernaturalism of Christian theology”
➔ He thought that if the Roman Catholic Church divorced itself from Christian theology,
they would be able to provide a symbolic model for a new society
➔ Subsequently, if this were to happen, instead of worshipping God, it would be a
religion of humanity

Most significant contributions to the field

➔ His main contributions to sociology and the positivist philosophy were :
➢ His conscientious adoption of the scientific method
➢ His law of the 3 stages of intellectual development
➢ His classification of sciences
➢ The conception of the incomplete philosophy of the sciences
➔ Law of 3 stages :
➢ Stage 1 : theological stage - where the world and human destiny are
explained in terms of gods and spirits
➢ Stage 2 : transitional metaphysical stage - where the world and human
destiny are explained in terms of essences, final causes
➢ Stage 3 : modern positive stage - this is distinguished from the limitations of
human knowledge
➔ classification of the sciences :
➢ Based on the fact that the sciences have developed
➢ Simple, abstract principles => complex concrete phenomena
➢ Development of the sciences in order:
❖ Mathematics => astronomy => physics => chemistry => biology =>
sociology
➔ Comte is sometimes referred to as “the father of sociology”
➔ Although he did not originate the concept of sociology, he did extend and elaborate
the field greatly
Long term impact of their work
➔ Comte was a man of genius and he inspired discipleship
➔ Although his plans and ideas were sometimes described as ludicrous, his work/ideas
influenced many remarkable social scientist, mostly intellectuals
➔ Amongst contemporary sociologists, comte’s beliefs of the importance of sociology
and the scientific study of humans, remains an instrument of faith for them
➔ His life's achievements (his work) remains a remarkable union and an incredibly
important system of thought