Talk:Auguste Comte

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1 Old talk
2 Father, godfather...
3 Category:Atheist philosophers
4 Metaphysical Phase vs Metaphysics
5 Order and Progress
6 Comte's Life
7 The Religon of Humanity's Hymns

[edit] Old talk

I apologize for not having time to add to the page now, but mention should be made of Jonathan Turner's writings on Comte, positivism, and sociology (see Classical Sociological Theory: A Positivist Perspective, by J. H. Turner, 1993). His perspective is that Comte, in his Cours de Philosophie Positive, wrote that sociology should be the pursuit of abstract laws (theory) of social reality, not unlike other scientific endeavors, rooted in empirical observation. This is still relevant in the debate today of just how "real" social phenomena are, and how "scientific" the social sciences are.

Whoever wrote below that Comte's positivism, and "logical positivism", are not the same, is correct. The latter is a product of the Vienna Circle of intellectuals, and has more emphasis on the empirical part of research - Turner argues this is largely responsible for the negative connotation that the term "positivism" has in social research today. -VAZ

Funny. I would argue that Comte is largely responsible for the negative connotation that the word Positivism has today, even when one actually means the (far sounder) Vienna Circle variety. Luis Dantas 11:34, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

The following was copied from User talk:Olivier

You added a link to positvism to the Auguste Comte article. I did write that article, but are no expert for Comte, but I'm not so sure if the philosophical position called positivism and Comtes positive philosophy have something in common. Do you know more, or could you please check, if this link is right there? --till we *) 11:54 Oct 25, 2002 (UTC)

I addded the link to positivism, because the name of Auguste Comte is often associated to it. He is even said to be the founder of this philosophical movement. A Google search "Auguste Comte positivism" returns more than 3,000 hits. For instance: http://www.erraticimpact.com/~19thcentury/html/comte.htm

This being said, I am not an expert, and would not be able to write anything interesting about this theory. I am not even sure if the Logical positivism to which positivism redirects at the moment is the same concept or if it has any connection with Comte's theory. Maybe there is a misuse in English of "positivism" instead of "positive philosophy", but his concept is definitely called "positivisme" in French.

So, to answer your question, I would believe that the word "positivism" has its place in an article about Comte, but I would leave the final answer to an expert. -olivier 13:46 Oct 25, 2002 (UTC)

I studied some Comte in college (over 20 years ago, so there isn't much I remember now), and there is no question that his philosophy was called "positivism". I think the article needs to state this. However, I also believe that it is different than the "logical positivism" of the 20th century, but I don't know enough off the top of my head to make the distinction. soulpatch

I did a bit of google research ;-) and found http://www.sar.bolton.ac.uk/ltl/lecture2/logical_positivism.htm, which makes it quite clear, that some of the basic concepts of Comtes positivism and the newer logical positivism are shared, but that this are two different positions. I changed the positivism article accordingly. Either there or here in the Comte entry somebody should say a bit more about the contents of Comtes ideas. --till we *) 20:17 Oct 26, 2002 (UTC)

Certainly, there should be no debate as to whether to call Comte a positivist. Although uninvolved project of Carnap et al, he's an early positivist who can be seen to anticipate these thinkers.

Sayeth the article:

Soon he saw unbridgeable differences with his catholic and monarchic family and left again for Paris, earning money by small jobs.

What kind of monarchism is this? Does it mean his family were pro-monarchy or does it mean they believed in monarchianism? (Monarchism is a disambiguation page) --Camembert

They were pro-monarchy, see [1]. User:Olivier

[edit] Father, godfather...

came up with the term of sociology to name the new science made by Saint-Simon. Not fair: Comte is generally regarded as the inventor of sociology, not its baptist. If we can trace it to Saint-Simon, we could equally well trace it further back, I think (Montisque?). Perhaps a change?

Well, we can trace it back to 14th century and Ibn Khaldun. Still, be bold and improve this as you see fit (and if you do so, please consider registering). --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus ^Talk 19:41, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

==origin of term 'positivist' with Comte: "He also gave the name "Positive" to the last of these because of the polysemic connotations of the word." - do we know this from Comte, from some scholarly source, or is this 'merely' a reasonable reconstruction of Comtean motives? -John Rodgers/Arthurkoestler at Wikipedia

[edit] Category:Atheist philosophers

While I recognize that such a category will never be unanymous, I must wonder: did Comte even consider himself an atheist? He looks a lot more like a deist to me, if not a full-blown monotheist. Luis Dantas 11:36, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

No - Comte explicitly denies atheism, characterising it as negative and purely critical. Don't know if his self-identification is a good criterion, though: "should we consider him an atheist?" might be better. Then, perhaps, a qualified "yes". 17 May 2006

[edit] Metaphysical Phase vs Metaphysics

Metaphysical is a disambiguation page. One of the options is Metaphysics; from context that would be the wrong choice, but the other options are no better. Please fix this. Thanks! --Jamoche 03:08, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Order and Progress

From Young Turks:

Name of the society, Union and Progress, is believed to be inspired by leading positivist Auguste Comte's motto Order and Progress.

--Error 00:42, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Comte's Life

I was just reading a book for class that includes a chapter on Comte's life and could add it to the place where there is "citation needed" but I am too much of a newbie to know how to make the citation correctly. Can one of you help? I propose to add this sentence after the one about his marriage "During his marriage his wife suffered through at least one of his attacks of madness which included knife flinging. He was treated for this madness and eventually released uncured." Frank Edward Manuel. The Prophets of Paris. (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1962.) p.261

An editor's footnote to his essay "Examination of Broussais's Treatise on Irritation" from 1828 also refers to Comte's "resentment at his treatment" while institutionalized. Auguste Comte. Early Political Writings. Edited and Translated by H.S. Jones (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1998) p.240 --JoyKnoblauch 03:46, 30 November 2006 (UTC)