The Positive Philosophy
by Auguste Comte · Cours de philosophie positive
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1830-1842
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- French
- Length
- Long · 500 pp300 to 700 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte, translated by Harriet MartineauMartineau's condensation of the six volumes into two, which Comte himself approved and which is the version usually read in English.
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Comte's six-volume course, delivered as lectures and published between 1830 and 1842, announces a philosophy that confines knowledge to observable facts and the laws connecting them, and refuses questions about first causes and final ends. He states a law of three stages through which every branch of thought passes: theological, metaphysical and positive. He then arranges the sciences in a hierarchy of increasing complexity and decreasing generality, from mathematics through astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology, and adds a new one at the top, social physics or sociology, whose business is to find the laws of society and so put politics on a scientific footing.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Positive Philosophy are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
