Comte, Isidore-Auguste-Marie-François-Xavier (1798–1857)

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list__item--active"> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1">Article Summary</a> </span> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-2" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">1</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/life-43740">Life</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-3" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">2</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/speculation-and-action">Speculation and action</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-4" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">3</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/comtean-epistemology">Comtean epistemology</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-5" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">4</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/the-logic-of-systems-and-the-semiotic-principle">The logic of systems and the semiotic principle</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-6" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">5</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/the-moral-and-political-plan">The moral and political plan</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-7" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">6</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/the-human-sciences-and-the-standard-conduct-of-nations">The human sciences and the standard conduct of nations</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-8" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">7</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/the-complete-positivism">The complete positivism</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-9" class="list__item list__item--3"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <span class="list__index">8</span> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/sections/influence-56718">Influence</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-2221882608841-10" class="list__item list__item--3"> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/bibliography/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857-bib">Bibliography</a> </span> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-6 col-sm-8 col-xs-12 publication-content " data-prop-match-height="{"groupId" : "articleCols" , "viewport" : "XLARGESCREEN,LARGESCREEN" }"> <div matchheightgroupid="articleCols" matchheightviewport="XLARGESCREEN,LARGESCREEN"> <div class="m-b-large"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column "> <a href="/search?action=toggleFacet-dataType-TFBBiographical&newSearch" class="text-link text-small"><i class="icon"><span class="icon-text">Biographical</span></i></a> </div> </div> <h1 class="text-xlarge p-a-none p-b-xsmall">Comte, Isidore-Auguste-Marie-François-Xavier (1798–1857)</h1> <ul id="list-2962510145122" class="list__main "> <li id="list-2962510145122-1" class="list__item list__item--4"> <span class="list__title"> By </span> </li> <li id="list-2962510145122-2" class="list__item list__item--4"> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/search?action=toggleFacet-Contributors-Authors/Person/contrib-667&newSearch">Kremer-marietti, Angele</a> </span> </li> </ul> <ul id="list-3703137681403" class="list__main "> <li id="list-3703137681403-1" class="list__item list__item--4"> <span class="list__title"> Translated by </span> </li> <li id="list-3703137681403-2" class="list__item list__item--4"> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/search?action=toggleFacet-Contributors-Translators/Person/contrib-982&newSearch">Pickering, Mary</a> </span> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="styled-container--10 vertical-spacing--base "> <div class="styled-container-content "> <div class="text-xsmall p-v-base hidden-print"> <div class="row "> <div class=" col-sm-2 col-xs-12 "> <span class="font-weight-bold">DOI</span> </div> <div class=" col-sm-10 col-xs-12 "> 10.4324/9780415249126-DC016-1 </div> </div> <div class="p-v-small"> <div class="row "> <div class=" col-sm-2 col-xs-12 "> <div class="font-weight-bold m-t-xsmall">Versions</div> </div> <div class=" col-sm-10 col-xs-12 "> <ul id="list-4443765217684" class="list__main "> <li id="list-4443765217684-1" class="list__item list__item--4"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <div class="list__icon"> <span class="lock-status-icon lock-status-icon--locked"><i class="icon"><span class="icon-text">content locked</span></i></span> </div> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-2">version 2</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> <li id="list-4443765217684-2" class="list__item list__item--4 list__item--active"> <div class="layout-table__row layout-table__row--valign-top"> <div class="layout-table__column list__column "> <div class="list__icon"> <span class="lock-status-icon lock-status-icon--unlocked"><i class="icon"><span class="icon-text">content unlocked</span></i></span> </div> </div> <div class="layout-table__column "> <span class="list__title"> <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1">version 1</a> </span> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="only-print"> DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-DC016-1<br> Version: v1, Published online: 1998<br> Retrieved February 27, 2025, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1 <hr class="vertical-spacer"> </div> <h2 class="article__content-title heading-lg">Article Summary</h2> <div class="generated-markup"> <a name="tfb-abstract-comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857-abstract-1"></a><p class="first" id="DC016P1">The French philosopher and social theorist Auguste Comte is known as the originator of sociology and ‘positivism’, a philosophical system by which he aimed to discover and perfect the proper political arrangements of modern industrial society. He was the first thinker to advocate the use of scientific procedures in the study of economics, politics and social behaviour, and, motivated by the social and moral problems caused by the French Revolution, he held that the practice of such a science would lead inevitably to social regeneration and progress.</p><p id="DC016P2">Comte’s positivism can be characterized as an approach which rejects as illegitimate all that cannot be directly observed in the investigation and study of any subject. His system of ‘positive philosophy’ had two laws at its foundation: a historical or logical law, ‘the law of three stages’, and an epistemological law, the classification or hierarchy of the sciences. The law of three stages governs the development of human intelligence and society: in the first stage, early societies base their knowledge on theological grounds, giving ultimately divine explanations for all phenomena; later, in the metaphysical stage, forces and essences are sought as explanations, but these are equally chimerical and untestable; finally, in the positive or scientific stage, knowledge is secured solely on observations, by their correlation and sequence. Comte saw this process occurring not only in European society, but also in the lives of every individual. We seek theological solutions in childhood, metaphysical solutions in youth, and scientific explanations in adulthood.</p><p id="DC016P3">His second, epistemological law fixed a classification or hierarchy of sciences according to their arrival at the positive stage of knowledge. In order of historical development and thus of increasing complexity, these are mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and sociology. (Comte rejected psychology as a science, on the grounds that its data were unobservable and therefore untestable.) Knowledge of one science rested partly on the findings of the preceding science; for Comte, students must progress through the sciences in the correct order, using the simpler and more precise methods of the preceding science to tackle the more complex issues of later ones. In his six-volume <a href="/articles/biographical/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857/v-1/bibliography/comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857-bib#DC016WKENT1">Cours de philosophie positive (The Positive Philosophy)</a> (1830–42), Comte gave an encyclopedic account of these sciences, ending with an exposition of what he regarded as the most advanced: social physics or ‘sociology’ (a term he invented). The sociologist’s job would be to discover the laws that govern human behaviour on a large scale, and the ways in which social institutions and norms operate together in a complex yet ultimately predictable system.</p><p id="DC016P4">In his later work, Comte fleshed out his vision of the positive society, describing among other things a Religion of Humanity in which historical figures would be worshipped according to their contribution to society. Despite such extravagances, however, the broader themes of his positivism – especially the idea that long-standing social problems should be approached scientifically – proved influential both in France and, through J.S. Mill’s early support, in England.</p> <a name="section-dc016aentry-1"></a><div class="section"><a name="DC016AENTRY"></a><div class="list"><a name="d9365848e4"></a><ol style="list-style-type: decimal"></ol></div></div> </div> <div class="styled-container--10 vertical-spacing--base "> <div class="styled-container-content "> <div class="p-v-base hidden-print"> <div class="toolbar"> <span class="toolbar__item share"> <div class="toolbar__item-trigger"> <a href="#" data-prop-toggle="{"target":"#toolbar-item-5184392753965" , "toggleClass" :"show" }" class="toolbar__button"><i class="icon"><span class="icon-text">Share</span></i></a> </div> <div class="toolbar__item-dropdown" id="toolbar-item-5184392753965"> <div role="region" data-prop-addthis class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style addthis_inline_share_toolbox"> <a class="addthis_button_facebook" role="button" tabindex="1"></a> <a class="addthis_button_twitter" role="button" tabindex="1"></a> <a class="addthis_button_delicious" role="button" tabindex="1"></a> <a class="addthis_button_citeulike" role="button" tabindex="1"></a> <a class="addthis_button_bitly" role="button" tabindex="1"></a> </div> </div> </span> <span class="toolbar__item reference"> <button type="button" data-prop-toggle="{ "target": "#reference-modal-5925020290246" , "group":"reference" , "triggerToggleClass":"reference-active" }" class="toolbar__button"> <i class="icon"> <span class="icon-text">Cite</span> </i> </button> </span> <div class="modal " data-prop-modal-html-fragment="https://www.rep.routledge.com/citation/fragment?contentItem=comte-isidore-auguste-marie-francois-xavier-1798-1857&contentType=tfb-biographical&contentItemRevision=1" id="reference-modal-5925020290246" data-prop-modal> <div class="modal__close-trigger" data-prop-toggle="{ "target": "#reference-modal-5925020290246" }"></div> <div class="modal--transition fade"> <div class="vertically-centered"> <div class="vertically-centered__object"> <div class="modal__content"> <div class="modal__header"> <div class="vertically-centered"> <div class="vertically-centered__object"> <div class="modal__title"> Cite </div> </div> <div class="vertically-centered__object"> <div class="modal__close"> <button type="button" data-prop-toggle="{ "target": "#reference-modal-5925020290246" }" class="modal__header-button"> <i class="icon"> <span class="icon-text">close</span> </i> </button> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="modal__body"> <div class="modal-html-fragment"> <div class="modal-html-fragment-spinner"> <div class="modal-html-fragment-spinner__icon"></div> <div class="modal-html-fragment-spinner-text"> <p>Loading content</p> <p class="modal-html-fragment-spinner-text__error"> We were unable to load the content </p> </div> </div> <div class="modal-html-fragment__content"></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <span class="toolbar__item print"> <a href="#" onclick="window.print()" class="toolbar__button"><i class="icon"><span class="icon-text">Print</span></i></a> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="only-print"> Citing this article:<br> Kremer-marietti, Angele. Comte, Isidore-Auguste-Marie-François-Xavier (1798–1857), 1998, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-DC016-1. 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Comte, Isidore-Auguste-Marie-François-Xavier (1798–1857) - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy