Auguste Comte
19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857
Auguste Comte (1798-1857) was a French philosopher who founded positivism and is often called the father of sociology, a term he coined. His 'Course of Positive Philosophy' proposed that human knowledge progresses through theological and metaphysical stages toward a final scientific, or positive, stage. In his later years he devised a secular 'Religion of Humanity'.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Auguste Comte.
- Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) Overlapped 59 years →
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) Overlapped 59 years →
- Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) Overlapped 59 years →
- Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) Overlapped 59 years →
- Samuel Morse (1791–1872) Overlapped 59 years →
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) Overlapped 59 years →
Life events
Born Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte to a Catholic royalist family in Montpellier.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAdmitted to the elite scientific school in 1814; his studies ended when the school was temporarily closed in 1816 for political reasons.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWorked closely with the social theorist Saint-Simon for seven years before an acrimonious break in 1824.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMarried Caroline Massin in Paris; the troubled marriage ended in separation in 1842.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHis six-volume masterwork, published between 1830 and 1842, set out the law of three stages and coined the term 'sociology'.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSupported himself through subordinate teaching posts at the Polytechnique, losing the examiner position in 1844 after conflicts with the establishment.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHis intense platonic relationship with Clotilde de Vaux, who died of tuberculosis in 1846, transformed the emotional character of his later philosophy.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn his later years he elaborated a secular religion with humanity as its object of worship, complete with calendar, sacraments, and priesthood.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgHis four-volume work of 1851-1854 applied positivism to social and political reorganization.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgDied of stomach cancer at age 59 and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Source: en.wikipedia.org