A General View of Positivism by Auguste Comte (learn to read books TXT) 📕
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Auguste Comte, considered by some to be the first “philosopher of science,” was perhaps most famous for founding the theory of Positivism: a framework of thinking and living meant to engender unity across humanity, backed by love, science, and intellect.
Positivism itself is a combination philosophy and way of life. Here Comte lays down the various tenets of the philosophy, describing what he views as the six major characteristics of the system. Comte goes into surprising detail, going so far as to describe minutiae like how children should be educated, the structure of a unified global committee of nations, new flags, calendars, the role of the arts, and so on. He ends the book with what he calls the “Religion of Humanity,” a secular religion meant to replace the traditional religions that people of the time were becoming disillusioned with.
The book and the theory are both very much products of the time. Comte was born around the end of the French Revolution, and lived in Paris during that time when republican ideas, respect for science, and a revolutionary and forward-thinking spirit made fertile ground for change. He viewed Positivism as the single solution to most of the problems of the day, including Communism, the plight of the working class, the shift away from traditional religion, and the constant war and strife that had plagued humanity.
Comte’s theories gained a huge following: you might even recognize the Positivist motto, “Order and Progress,” inscribed on Brazil’s national flag. While Positivism and its executive arm, the Church of Humanity, today only seem to survive in any significant number in Brazil—and even there in a greatly declined state—its theories were hugely influential in the emergence of many “ethical societies” and secular church movements around the globe.
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- Author: Auguste Comte
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The Being upon whom all our thoughts are concentrated is one whose existence is undoubted. We recognize that existence not in the Present only, but in the Past, and even in the Future: and we find it always subject to one fundamental Law, by which we are enabled to conceive of it as a whole. Placing our highest happiness in universal Love, we live, as far as it is possible, for others; and this in public life as well as in private; for the two are closely linked together in our religion; a religion clothed in all the beauty of Art, and yet never inconsistent with Science. After having thus exercised our powers to the full, and having given a charm and sacredness to our temporary life, we shall at last be forever incorporated into the Supreme Being, of whose life all noble natures are necessarily partakers. It is only through the workers of Humanity that we can feel the inward reality and inexpressible sweetness of this incorporation. It is unknown to those who being still involved in theological belief, have not been able to form a clear conception of the Future, and have never experienced the feeling of pure self-sacrifice.
EndnotesThe establishment of this great principle is the most important result of my System of Positive Philosophy. This work was published 1830–1842, with the title of Course of Positive Philosophy, because it was based upon a course of lectures delivered 1826–1829. But since that time I have always given it the more appropriate name of “System.” Should the work reach a second edition, the correction will be made formally: meanwhile, this will, I hope, remove all misconception on the subject. ↩
Comte afterwards added a seventh science, Ethics, (see Volume II of System of Positive Polity). —J. H. B. ↩
See Cabanis, Rapports du physique et du moral de l’homme, Ve memoire, where he speaks of “les restes de l’esprit de chevalerie, fruit ridicule de l’odieuse féodalité.” —J. H. B. ↩
Philosophy—the love of wisdom. ↩
Written in 1848. —J. H. B. ↩
On reconsideration, Comte saw fit to withdraw this proposal. See Positive Polity, Volume IV, Chapter 5, p. 351. ↩
Clotilde de Vaux, see Testament d’Auguste Comte, p. 550. —J. H. B. ↩
This law was introduced by Royer-Collard. It forbids discussion of the private affairs of public men. ↩
Testament d’Auguste Comte, p. 556. —J. H. B. ↩
This story “Lucie” is republished in Volume I of System of Positive Polity. —J. H. B. ↩
Impose the law of peace. ↩
Toute la suite des hommes, pendant le cours de tant de siècles, doit être considérée comme un même homme qui subsiste toujours et qui apprend continuellement. —Pascal, Pensées, Part I, Article I. (The whole succession of men during the course of so many centuries should be considered as one Man ever living and constantly learning. —J. H. B.) ↩
See The Positivist Calendar, edited by H. G. Jones (W. Reeves, 1905). —J. H. B. ↩
Tableau Historique des progrès de l’Esprit Humain, Paris, 1900. —J. H. B. ↩
The Republic of 1848. —J. H. B. ↩
This report was republished in Revue Occidentale, July 1889; see also an article and a document published by M. Pierre Laffitte in the same review in January, 1890. —J. H. B. ↩
This committee was formed in 1903. —J. H. B. ↩
This report was republished in Revue Occidentale, September, 1885. ↩
The relative position here assigned to England and Germany is reversed in the fourth volume of the Politique Positive. ↩
ColophonA General View of Positivism
was published in 1848 by
Auguste Comte.
It was translated from French in 1865 by
J. H. Bridges.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Alex Cabal,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2016 by
Josep Cols Canals, Charlie Howard, and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at
Google Books.
The cover page is adapted from
Prométhée,
a painting completed in 1907 by
Jean Delville.
The cover and title pages feature the
League Spartan and Sorts Mill Goudy
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The first edition of this ebook was released on
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