Three significant additions have been made to this edition: a new introduction by the editor, a new postscript - taken from the twelfth Auguste Comte Memorial Trust Lecture - also by the editor, as well as Comte's "Conclusion of the Whole ...

Auguste Comte and Positivism will be of importance to the work of philosophers, sociologists, political theorists, and historians.

Auguste Comte proclaimed himself the founder of sociology and, on the whole, this claim is accepted. His most important work is the six-volume Cours de Philosophie Positive of which this present book is a selective abridgement.

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.

In this English edition of the work, published in 1865, he addresses the practical problems of implementing his philosophy or doctrine, as he also refers to Positivism, into society.

French philosopher and social scientist AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857) developed the notion of sociology as a field that could be studied, invented the term altruism, and in this groundbreaking work, created a system of principles and ideas-a ...