The Course in Positive Philosophy

The Course in Positive Philosophy

The Course in Positivist Philosophy (Cours de Philosophie Positive) was a series of texts written by the French philosopher of science and founding sociologist, Auguste Comte, between 1830 and 1842. Within it he unveiled the epistemological perspective of positivism. The works were translated into English by Harriet Martineau and condensed to form The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte 1853.

The first three volumes of the Course dealt chiefly with the physical sciences already in existence (mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology), whereas the latter two emphasised the inevitable coming of social science. It is in observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and classifying the sciences in this way, that Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.[1] For him, the physical sciences had necessarily to arrive first, before humanity could adequately channel its efforts into the most challenging and complex "Queen science" of human society itself. His A General View of Positivism (published in English in 1865) would therefore set-out to define, in more detail, the empirical goals of sociology.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/ Stanford Encyclopaedia: Auguste Comte



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Aufklärung (The German) and British philosophy — The German Aufklärung and British philosophy Manfred Kuehn INTRODUCTION The German Enlightenment was not an isolated phenomenon.1 It was closely connected with developments in other European countries and in North America. Like the thinkers in… …   History of philosophy

  • Spinoza: the moral and political philosophy — The moral and political philosophy of Spinoza Hans W.Blom Spinoza as a moral and political philosopher was the proponent of a radical and extremely consistent version of seventeenth century Dutch naturalism. As a consequence of the burgeoning… …   History of philosophy

  • Psychology (The separation of) from philosophy — The separation of psychology from philosophy Studies in the sciences of mind 1815–1879 Edward S.Reed THE IMPOSSIBLE SCIENCE Traditional metaphysics The consensus of European opinion during and immediately after the Napoleonic era was that… …   History of philosophy

  • philosophy, Western — Introduction       history of Western philosophy from its development among the ancient Greeks to the present.       This article has three basic purposes: (1) to provide an overview of the history of philosophy in the West, (2) to relate… …   Universalium

  • Philosophy — • Detailed article on the history of the love of wisdom Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Philosophy     Philosophy     † …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • The Law of Conservation of Energy —     The Law of Conservation of Energy     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Law of Conservation of Energy     Amongst the gravest objections raised by the progress of modern science against Theism, the possibility of Miracles, free will, the… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Positive Disintegration — The Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) by Kazimierz Dąbrowski describes a theory of personality development. Unlike mainstream psychology, Dąbrowski s theoretical framework views psychological tension and anxiety as necessary for growth.… …   Wikipedia

  • The Seven Liberal Arts —     The Seven Liberal Arts     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Seven Liberal Arts     The expression artes liberales, chiefly used during the Middle Ages, does not mean arts as we understand the word at this present day, but those branches of… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Philosophy of history — or historiosophy is an area of philosophy concerning the eventual significance, if any, of human history. Furthermore, it speculates as to a possible teleological end to its development that is, it asks if there is a design, purpose, directive… …   Wikipedia

  • The Art of Fiction — The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers is a nonfiction book by Ayn Rand, published posthumously. Edited by Tore Boeckmann, it was published by Plume in 2000, ISBN 0452281547. The book is based on a 1958 series of 12 four hour… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”