What do you think?
Rate this book
The Essential Comte: Selected from Cours De Philosophie Positive
Auguste Comte proclaimed himself the founder of sociology and, on the whole, this claim is accepted. His most important work is the six-volume Cours de Philosophie Positive of which this present book is a selective abridgement. Comte, as this selection shows, was a methodological visionary. He was an eminently successful terminological innovator and to him we owe not only 'sociology' and 'positivism' but also 'biology' and 'altruism'. Professor Andreski, in his lucid introduction, assesses Comte's place under six headings, as scientist, philosopher, sociological theorist, sociological historian, reformer and methodologist. But this selection from Comte's works will be most welcomed because it provides a modern English translation of the main body of his thought.
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
About the author
Auguste Comte
611 books154 followersFrench philosopher Isidore Auguste Comte, known as the founder of positivism, also established sociology as a systematic study.
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte bettered the discipline and the doctrine. People sometimes regard him first of science in the modern sense of the term.
The utopian socialist Henri Saint-Simon strongly influenced Comte, who developed an attempt to remedy the malaise of the revolution and called for a new doctrine, based on the sciences. Comte influenced major 19th-century thought and the work of Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and George Eliot. His now outdated concept of evolutionism set the tone for early theorists and anthropologists, such as [authore:Harriet Martineau] and Herbert Spencer; Émile Durkheim presented modern academics as practical and objective research.
Theories of Comte culminated in the "Religion of Humanity," which influenced the development of secular organizations in the 19th century. Comte likewise coined the word altruism.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_...
http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=1016
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/
http://www.biography.com/people/augus...
http://sociology.about.com/od/Profile...
http://www.egs.edu/library/auguste-co...
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte bettered the discipline and the doctrine. People sometimes regard him first of science in the modern sense of the term.
The utopian socialist Henri Saint-Simon strongly influenced Comte, who developed an attempt to remedy the malaise of the revolution and called for a new doctrine, based on the sciences. Comte influenced major 19th-century thought and the work of Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and George Eliot. His now outdated concept of evolutionism set the tone for early theorists and anthropologists, such as [authore:Harriet Martineau] and Herbert Spencer; Émile Durkheim presented modern academics as practical and objective research.
Theories of Comte culminated in the "Religion of Humanity," which influenced the development of secular organizations in the 19th century. Comte likewise coined the word altruism.
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_...
http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=1016
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/
http://www.biography.com/people/augus...
http://sociology.about.com/od/Profile...
http://www.egs.edu/library/auguste-co...
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Shelved as 'abandoned'
October 13, 2015I really enjoyed the parts of this book that I read. These included Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and a few of the chapters on social studies.
Nowadays, when people talk about philosophy of science they seem to only mention that Kuhn book on scientific revolutions. But it's important to remember that there is a much longer program, starting with Francis Bacon's call for free exchange of scientific findings internationally through the creation of societies.
Comte defines the purpose, and the natural limitations, of each scientific field. In doing so he reminded me of Kant whose "critiques" we're meant to identify the boundaries on the limits of human perception and therefore knowledge.
I happen to think that positivism, as Comte's philosophy came to be known, has been taken too far (becoming "Scientism") and has confused people into believing that measuring things is equated with knowledge and certainty. But Comte himself acknowledges that there is a hierarchy in the sciences, with mathematics being able to generate what we think of as laws, while the other fields are less capable.
So I recommend the book!
Nowadays, when people talk about philosophy of science they seem to only mention that Kuhn book on scientific revolutions. But it's important to remember that there is a much longer program, starting with Francis Bacon's call for free exchange of scientific findings internationally through the creation of societies.
Comte defines the purpose, and the natural limitations, of each scientific field. In doing so he reminded me of Kant whose "critiques" we're meant to identify the boundaries on the limits of human perception and therefore knowledge.
I happen to think that positivism, as Comte's philosophy came to be known, has been taken too far (becoming "Scientism") and has confused people into believing that measuring things is equated with knowledge and certainty. But Comte himself acknowledges that there is a hierarchy in the sciences, with mathematics being able to generate what we think of as laws, while the other fields are less capable.
So I recommend the book!
Displaying 1 of 1 review