Born
as Isdore Auguste Marie Francois Xavier Comte on January 19, 1798 in Montpellier,
France, Auguste Comte was a French philosopher, acclaimed for being the founder
of positivism and sociology. He is accredited for naming the science of
sociology and giving a system to the subject. Comte was significantly
influenced by philosophers that were starting to distinguish and map out an
order in human society’s history. Many of these influential philosophers were
his contemporaries including Montesquieu, Joseph de Maistre and Marquis de
Condorcet, all of whom contributed to Comte’s system of thought.
The
start of Comte’s career came after acquaintance with the French social reformer
Henri de Saint-Simon. Many of Comte’s early written articles were published in
Saint-Simon’s circulations though he broke off from Saint-Simon’s ideology in
1826 due to differing point of views. It was also during this time that Comte
commenced a series of lectures dedicated to his system of positive philosophy
for private audiences. Between 1829 and 1830 the success of his lectures were
delivered to the Royal Athenaeum. The years from 1830 to 1840 were devoted to
the writing and publication of Comte’s philosophical work entitled, Cours de
Philosophie Positive, translated into English as The Positive Philosophy of
Auguste Comte, a six volume publication.
One of
Auguste Comte’s major work, Systeme de Politique Positive, translated in
English as System of Positive Policy was written after the death of his
romantic interest Clotilde de Vaux published between 1851 and 1854. In this
work Comte, completed his formulation of the subject of sociology. This major
work of Comte laid heavy emphasis on the progress of morality as being the main
fixation for human knowledge.
The
emergence of Comte’s ideas can been seen as a further indulgence into the ideas
of writers from the 18th and early 19th century such as David Hume and Immanuel
Kant. The philosophy of positivism contributed by Comte laid under five
distinct parts. These parts included is adoption of the scientific method, the
law of three stages, classification of science, contribution to philosophies of
sciences from anterior to sociology, the creation of positivist social
philosophy.
Even
though Comte is not credited for the originating the ideas of sociology, he has
to his credit the extension of this field of study and systematization its
content. Comte successfully divided sociology into two main fields of social
statics and social dynamics. According to Comte’s view the foundation of
society is based on a person’s individual egoism. According to his thought this
is done by division of labor with the combination of a person’s efforts as well
as maintaining the social unity that is the responsibility of the government
and the state.
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