Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte (full name:  Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte; January 17, 1798 – September 5, 1857) was a French thinker.  He was one of the founders of sociology. He created the word from the Latin: socius, "companion"; and the suffix -ology, "the study of", from Greek λόγος, lógos, "knowledge" ) He also started a way of thinking about and understanding human knowledge called  positivism.Le Système d'Auguste Comte. De la science à la religion par la philosophie, Annie Petit, Paris, Vrin, 2016

 Life 
Comte was born on 19 January 1798 at Montpellier, in southern France. After attending the University of Montpellier, one of the oldest European universities, Comte was admitted to the École Polytechnique in Paris.

He married Caroline Massin, but divorced in 1842.

He died in Paris on 5 September 1857 and is buried at the famous Cimetière du Père Lachaise. His apartment from 1841-1857 is now conserved as the Maison d'Auguste Comte.

 Law of three stages 
The law of three stages is a socio-historical idea of Auguste Comte.  Comte said that knowledge developed in three stages. The first stage is the "theological" stage, in which Comte says that people use religion or gods to explain why things happen or where things came from.  The second stage is the "metaphysical" or "abstract" stage, where people use philosophy and abstract ideas to think about their beliefs and explain things.  The last stage is the "positive", regarding to the three stages of positivism. Comte said that society could shift into a positivist society if the sciences, including sociology, are all used to explain things.

 Works 

 Comte, A.; Bridges, J.H. (tr.); A General View of Positivism; Trubner and Co., 1865 (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2009; )

 Comte, A; Martineau, H. (tr.); The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte; 2 volumes; Chapman, 1853 (reissued by Cambridge University Press, 2009; ) (but note that C.U.P. say "Martineau's abridged and more easily digestible version of Comte's work was intended to be readily accessible to a wide general readership, particularly those she felt to be morally and intellectually adrift", so this is not really Comte's own writings)

 Comte, A.; System of Positive Polity; various publishers
 Comte, A.; Cours de Philosophie Positive, Tome II; Bachelier, Paris, 1835, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31882/31882-h/31882-h.htm; scans of the six volumes are at Projet Gallica

Related pages
List of sociologists from Europe

 References 

 Other websites 

 Selections from first volume of Cours of positive philosophy
  Auguste Comte quotes 
 Auguste Comte and Positivism 

Category:1798 births
Category:1857 deaths
Category:French philosophers
Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
Category:People from Montpellier
Category:French sociologists
Category:Alumni of the École Polytechnique
Category:Writers from Occitanie