Auguste Comte

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Auguste Comte

• The Development of Sociology
• By Jon K. Loessin

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Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte

• (1798-1857)
• French scholar
• Prodigy/Genius
• Enlightenment/Modernity
• Utopian Socialist
• AND, Eccentric

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Affected by Conflicts

• Raised in the aftermath of the French Revolution
  (1789)
• Wealthy, elitist upbringing
• Witnessed poverty, disease, destruction, social
  disorder
• Concluded that Order should be restored in
  societyand should be a universal right of all
  individuals
• Parents were staunch royalist Catholics but sent
  Auguste to study at a polytechnic university
• Recognized religion and science as old natural
  enemies
• It was a seemingly irresolvable conflict that was
  the root cause of revolution and social upheaval
• Concluded this must be resolved to bring about
  order, peace and unity in the world

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Genius and Megalomania

• There is a fine line between genius and
  insanity. Comte, Nietzsche, and many others
  throughout history are examples
• Comte took it upon himself to solve the perpetual
  conflict between religion and scienceand came to
  believe he was the ONLY person smart enough to
  accomplish the feat. He formulated a theory to
  demonstrate where society had been and where it
  was goingThe Law of Human Progress.

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Comtes Law of Human Progress

• Often called the stages of human knowledge
• Each stage describes how humans throughout
  existence, explain the causes of phenomena
• There are two competing modes of explanationthe
  RELIGIOUS (or THEOLOGICAL) and the SCIENTIFIC (or
  the POSITIVE)
• EACH of these stages contain THREE SUBSTAGES that
  serve to explain social evolution and the future

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Theological Substages

• The three substages of the THEOLOGICAL are
• A. Fetishismobjects, icons, idols, etc. as
  causation
• attributing causes of phenomena to inanimate
  objects or the will of nature
• B. Polytheismmultiple gods as causation
• Phenomena are the result of many different
  deities
• C. Monotheisma singular deity as causation
• i.e. God wills all things to happen

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Positive Substages

• The three substages of the POSITIVE are
• A. Metaphysicala major transitional phase
• Earthly cause/effect relationships, not God,
  cause phenomena, but may be unknown at present.
• B. Polyscientific (Comtes present world)
• Multiple sciences explain phenomena within their
  realm and foster the expansion of more sciences
• C. Monoscientific
• Future unity of all sciences into one
  SUPERSCIENCEthe science of all the sciences
  SOCIOLOGY

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The New Religion

• Thus, for Comte, the evolution of religion
  through the stages of theology and later the
  positive were all part of the same process where
  only the labels changed and beliefs were refined.
  Since science explained phenomena once reserved
  exclusively for theology, science became the new
  and improved religion
• God was replaced as a being to worship by
  science, which should now be worshippedand the
  science of society he called SOCIOLOGY was to be
  the religion of modern humanityhumanity
  worshipping itself
• Order and Progress became the Positivists motto

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Ready for the bizarre?

• Three brief stories all ending with great irony
• Comte founded a religious cult with the
  religion being SOCIOLOGYand lost his followers!
  (see Comtes Positive Philosophy (1830) and
  Positive Politics (1854)
• Comte became a scholarly pariah (and profoundly
  depressed) and died of cancer in 1857 long before
  sociology became a mainstream academic
  scienceand witnessing himself being credited
  with the title, the Father of Sociology (see
  Harriet Martineau, Herbert Spencer, and Charles
  Darwin)
• Comte may not have even been the Father of
  Sociology (see Giambattista Vico) but instead,
  perhaps a plagiarist!

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The Aftermath

• While Comte never saw his promise and purpose of
  sociology fulfilled, his creation blossomed into
  an academic study that was multi-disciplinary and
  an important tool for understanding and
  interpreting the world.
• SOCIOLOGY--The scientific study of human groups
  and social organization including the
  interrelationships in and between the various
  elements of society
• FIN