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Comte’s Positivism (1830-1842)
Comte first described the epistemological perspective of positivism in The Course in Positive Philosophy, which is a series of text published between 1830-1842. The first three volumes dealt with the physical sciences that were already in existence (math, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and biology) and the last two emphasized the coming of social science. Positivism is a philosophical theory stating that certain positive knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relation. -
Three Stages of Social Evolution (1830-1842)
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Hierarchy of the Sciences (1854)
According to this theory, there are higher levels of consensus and faster rates of advancement in physics and other natural sciences than there are in the social sciences. The theory stated that science develops over time beginning with the simplest and most general scientific disciple. Sciences become more complex and less general and they will reach the positive stage later. Disciplines future up the hierarchy depend more on the developments of their predecessors. -
Religion of Humanity (1856)
Comte separated from his wife in 1842 and in 1845 he started a new relationship which began the inspiration for his Religion if Humanity. Comte’s new religion was a belief system and ritual wiu liturgy and sacraments, priesthood and pontiff, all organizes around the public veneration of Humanity. The purpose was to fulfill the cohesive function once held by traditional worship. He believed that religion was an illusion of childhood, outgrown under proper education.
