Auguste Comte
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Auguste Comte is considered one of the great intellectual figures of modern European history. He is responsible for introducing to European thought the concepts of positivism and the field of sociology. Comte, who was born in the pivotal year of the French Revolution and died in 1857, was very much a product of his times. In the aftermath of the French Revolution and the massive wars which swept Europe (consequently spreading many of the themes of that revolution), European intellectuals were preoccupied with the disposition and use of power in society. The challenge before intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic, such as Comte, was how to harness what they considered the best themes of the French Revolution while arresting the more sinister consequences of that momentous event, such as the anarchy and bloodshed that event unleashed through years of civil war. Mary Pickering (1993), author of the biography on Comte called, Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography, Volume I, writes:The issue that was most important in the aftermath of the French Revolution was that of the basis and ends of power. How could the nation best be governed? How could it avoid the problem of mob rule (i.e., a renewal of the Terror) as well as that of dictatorship (i.e., a new Napoleon)? Comte was truly a child of the revolution and as such he was deeply impressed with most of its liberal and republican themes. These early influences would play a critical role as the b
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ttributed to the clashing of interests related to the three pillars of society: family, state, and church (Caird, 1885, 41). Again, Comte believed the best means of removing the threat of anarchy was his first rule of social science which underscored the importance of separation between the three pillars into mutually supportive spheres: "By which Family, State, and Church are finally to be distinguished and harmonized, or fixed in their proper organic relations to each other, so as to preclude forever their warfare or intrusion upon each other's provinces" (Caird, 1885, 41).
The second rule of Comte's social science concerning consensus among the society's population was vitally important. This rule stated that there can be no society without government or a strong central institution for governance. Caird interpreted Comte's rule as: "There can be no society without a government, any more than there can be a government or effective power among men, without society" (Caird, 1885, 41). Comte states: "A true social force is the result of a more or less extended co operation, gathered up into an individual organ" (Caird, 1885, 42).
While Comte was a strong supporter of centralized government, he was also wary of the poten
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Approximate Word count = 1582
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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