AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857)

(ISIDORE AUGUSTE MARIE FRANCOIS XAVIER COMTE)

GETTINMG TO KNOW AUGUSTE COMTE

BACKGROUND INFROMATIO
Success comes in many different forms and from many different types of people.
Still, it may surprise you to hear that one of the most influential people of the 19th
century was a college dropout with a history of mental illness. How did that
happen?

Auguste Comte was a French philosopher born in Montpellier, France, in 1798, just
after the French Revolution. Comte's parents had supported the royal family during
the revolution, but as Comte came of age, he began to see the value of the
revolution and the ideals that had led to it. Specifically, he became very interested
in the way that society molded itself and the laws that it followed. Through his
philosophical exploration of society, Comte would change the way the world viewed
society, philosophy, and even science.

Let's look closer at two important contributions that Comte made to the world:
sociology and positivism.

Sociology

He is known as “the father of ‘Sociology” as he was the first one to realize the
importance of relating sociology with science. He has made huge contributions to
the subject along with which he coined sociology as ‘the science of society’ or ‘the
science of human behavior’.

In college at the University of Montpellier, Comte became infatuated with the ideals
of the French Revolution. That is, he became really interested in the way that
members of society rose up to rid themselves of the monarchy and to form a
republic where everyone had the opportunity to become powerful.
Comte dropped out of college and began studying on his own. He looked for
patterns in the way that society behaved, including trying to figure out how society
works. In 1826, when he was approaching the age of 30, Comte decided to present
his social theory to the world in a series of lectures. However, he only got to deliver
about a third of the lectures before he was hospitalized with a mental illness.

For the next 15 years, Comte was in and out of hospitals for psychiatric problems.
But this didn't stop him from writing an influential series of books, collectively
known as the Course in Positive Philosophy, where he said that society, like nature,
operates under its own set of laws and should be studied the same way we study
nature: with science.

His philosophy is elucidated in another important work “A Programme of Scientific

Work required for the Reorganization of Society” which he published in 1822. In
1844, Comte was in love and maintained a platonic relationship with Clotilde de
Vaux who was a French aristocrat and writer. He made another contribution to the
subject after his beloved’s demise in 1846 which was known as “System of Positive
Polity”. In his another contribution, the “Religion of Humanity”, he let out the idea
of an improved religious order that emphasized more on reason and humanity.

Comte believed that the physical sciences, like physics and mathematics, should be
complemented with a new type of science: the social sciences, which would study
society using the same scientific principles. Putting his love of science together with
his fascination with society, he coined the term sociology to describe the study of
social behavior.

Positivism

He formulated the doctrine of positivism

Comte's ideas about society were closely related to what he called positivism, or
the idea that the truth only comes from scientific knowledge. In other words, if you
can observe it and test it, then you can find the truth. Thus, Comte didn't consider
things that cannot be scientifically valuated, like religion, and instution to be the
real truth. Through his study of sociology and positivism Comte developed three
stages of social evoulution which included the theological stage, the metaphysical
stage and the positive or scientific stage.

The first and earliest stage is called the theological stage. Starting at the very
beginning of human beings and social groups, Comte believed that in this stage,
people viewed the world and events in that world as a direct expression of the will
of various gods. In other words, ancient people believed that everything around
them was a sign of active gods influencing their lives.

For example, ancient people actually believed that planets were gods in the sky,
looking down on Earth. Even the sun was part of the world of the gods; ancient
Greeks believed the sun was one wheel on the massive chariot steered by Apollo. If
something bad happened, like a community experienced bad weather or an
earthquake, people in the theological stage would explain that event as a god being
upset and showing his or her anger to the people. In short, the theological stage
meant that people used supernatural or divine explanations to understand society
and the world.

The first law was further divided into 3 major stages:

Fetishism: At this stage, primitive men believed that God resides in each and every
object. Hence, they used to worship non-living things like stones, rocks, wood, etc.

Polytheism: This stage is advanced Fetishism. It is a stage that defined that the
number of Gods increased with the number of objects. For example, God of water,
God of soil, etc.

Monotheism: This is the most advanced stage of the first law which states that
there is only one God.

Metaphysical or Abstract Stage: This stage characterized the world between 1300
and 1800 A.D. It was the modification of the Theological stage. People started
thinking rationally and replaced imagination with reason. This stage knocked out
the concept of concrete God and emphasized on abstract principles.

Comte's second stage of society is called the metaphysical stage. Comte said that
this stage started around the Middle Ages in Europe, or somewhere around the
1300s. In the metaphysical stage of society, people viewed the world and events as
natural reflections of human tendencies. People in this stage still believed in divine
powers or gods, but they believed that these beings are more abstract and less
directly involved in what happens on a daily basis. Instead, problems in the world
are due to defects in humanity.

Metaphysical or Abstract Stage

People in metaphysical stage believe in God, however, they do not explain,
everything which happens in the society is due to the will of God. However, Most of
the problems take place due to the inadequacy of humans. To make sense of the
world; religious and scientific view co-exists in metaphysical stage. This stage is
also called, “transitional stage” because it progresses from absolute imagination to
rationality. For example if someone is sick they may associate sickness with germs
which is rational however, they might use the spiritual ritual to cure the disease.
Social phenomena in metaphysical stage is explain through amalgamation of
religious belief and rationality.

Positive or Scientific Stage

Each social phenomenon in this stage is explained by, the scientific findings and
empirical research. For example if someone is sick it not is interpreted and
explained as, the will of God or caused due to some supernatural power or the
result of wrong doing of individual which make the God angry and unleashed his
wrath upon him in the form of sickness . It is explained by the people rationally and
scientifically, that the illness is caused by germs. According to Comte, positivism is
absolutely intellectual way to determine social phenomenon, there is no place for
supernatural power in it. In this stage religion became less predominant and
scientific methods become more predominant in obtaining knowledge