Augusto Comte and Positivism

In this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a brief summary of the positivism of Augusto Comte, French philosopher born in Montpellier in 1798. This thinker was Saint-Simon's secretary, and thanks to this, he was able to publish in different magazines such as La Politique, L’Industrie, L’Organisateur. In 1822 the relationship between the two ends and his philosophy begins to take on a marked positivist side. Later, after the death of Clotilde de Vaux in 1846 and whom he loved deeply, his philosophy took on a more romantic and mystical tone.

Positivism becomes religion and he will be the High Priest of it. Therefore, we can speak of 3 well differentiated stages in Comte's thought: one of a political-sociological nature, another of a positivist philosophical nature and another mystical-religious. If you want to know more about the thought of Augusto Comte, continue reading this lesson from a TEACHER. Start the class!

Below we offer you the characteristics of the philosophy of Augusto Comte, one of the main representatives of positivism in philosophy:

• The reason and science they are the only ones who can restore social order,
• Away from metaphysics and theology.
• Intention of social reform, but more conservative and confronted with the approaches of Voltaire and Rousseau, whom he accuses of being utopians and promoting chaos and immorality.
• Society as a whole, and even morality, can be analyzed from a scientific point of view, from theobservation of phenomena, which will allow establishing and allowing universal laws.
• These laws govern the course of nature and also of history, understood in terms of the succession and progress of certain historical stages or social statuses.

To better understand the positivism of Augusto Comte, it is important to know the law of the 3 states. According to Comte, the individual and society go through three states or degrees of intellectual development: the theological or fictitious state, the metaphysical or abstract state, and the scientific or positive state. The first is essential for the development of human intelligence; the second is only a transitional stage and the third is its ultimate and definitive state.

1. The Theological State (Fictional)

At this stage it was believed that all phenomena in nature were caused by agents supernatural, since its true causes were not known. This state is divided, in turn, into three others:

• Fetishism: primary state of the theological state of thought in which there was a certain confusion between animate and inanimate objects, therefore, they worshiped the latter.
• Polytheism: during this state, different gods serve as an explanation of everything that happened, they controlled the different phenomena, and thus they worshiped different gods, such as the god of water, fire, air, earth, etc.
• Monotheism: It is the last stage of the theological state and it is considered that everything that exists has a single cause, that creation is the work of a single God.

2. The Metaphysical State (abstract)

In this second stage in the history of mankind, reality is explained from a entity abstractor e impersonal, with powers and forces that controlled everything that happened. Thus, one begins to speak of a computer principle of everything.

3. The Scientific Status (Positive)

It is the scientific state. In this last state, the explanation of reality is based on the observation, on the experience. The scientific method relates the cause and the classification of the data collected, it is essential.

Comte establishes a hierarchy of sciences based on different areas of knowledge, from the simplest, such as mechanics or physics to the most complex. Thus the development of science is as follows: Math; Astronomy; Physical; Chemistry, Biology, Y Sociology, the latter, the most important of all sciences, capable of solving all the problems of humanity.

The British philosopher WilliamWhewell (1794-1866), makes a harsh criticism of the law of the three states by stating that

“M. Comte's arrangement of the advances of science as a successive metaphysical and positive form is contrary to history, in fact, in principle, contrary to philosophical sound”.