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Auguste Comte and his Sociological Thoughts

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Contributions of Auguste Comte to Sociology

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Uttam Kumar Panda (FACULTY: SOCIOLOGY)

SUBMITTED BY: SHRUTI SETHI SEMESTER II-B ROLL NO. 136

HIDAYATULLAH NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY


Raipur (C.G)
Submitted on: 10.04.2012

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Acknowledgments

I feel highly elated to work on the topic Contributions of Auguste Comte to Sociology. I express my deepest regard and gratitude to my teacher, Dr. Uttam Kumar Panda for his unstinted support. I would like to thank my family and friends without whose support and encouragement, this project would not have been a reality. I take this opportunity to also thank the University and the Vice Chancellor for providing extensive database resources in the Library and through Internet.

Shruti Sethi Semester I

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Contents
Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Objectives 3. Research Methodology 2 4 5 5

4. August Comte: Biographical Sketch 5. Positivism or the Positive Philosophy of Comte 6. Law of three stages 7. Hierarchy of Sciences 8. Comtes views regarding Sociology and Religion of Humanity

6 9 12 16 19

9. Major findings 10. Conclusion 11. Bibliography

23 24 25

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Introduction
Auguste Comte [1798 1857] was the father of Positivism and inventor of the term sociology. He played a key role in the development of the social sciences and was highly influential on thoughts about progress in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Auguste Comte grew up in the wake of the French Revolution. He rejected religion and royalty, focusing instead on the study of society, which he named "sociology." He broke the subject into two categories: the forces holding society together ("social statics") and those driving social change ("social dynamics"). Comte's ideas and use of scientific methods greatly advanced the field. Comte believed that the progress of the human mind had followed an historical sequence which he described as the law of three stages; theological, metaphysical and positive. In the first two stages, attempts were made to understand the nature of things through supernatural and metaphysical explanations. In the positive stage, by contrast, observation and experiment became the principal means to search for truth. Applying the law of three stages first to the development of the sciences, Comte later claimed that it applied to human intellectual development in general and that it held the key to the future progress of humanity. Comte represents a general retreat from Enlightenment humanism that has continued to this day. His positivist ideology, rather than celebrating the rationality of the individual and wanting to protect people from state interference, fetishised the scientific method, proposing that a new ruling class of technocrats should decide how society should be run and how people should behave. This idea has its seeds in Saint-Simons thought but finds its expression in a much more developed authoritarian form in Comte.

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Objectives
1. To study the life and works of Auguste Comte, 2. To understand sociology in the words of Auguste Comte, 3. To study Positivism of Auguste Comte and to understand the concepts underlying the theory, 4. To study Comtean Philosophy and religion of humanity, 5. To study how sociology evolved and how it is similar to the evolution of other sciences and 6. To delve into the concept of Law of three stages.

Research Methodology

This project is descriptive and analytical in nature. Secondary and Electronic resources have been largely used to gather information and data about the topic. Books and other reference as guided by Faculty of Sociology have been primarily helpful in giving this project a firm structure. Websites, dictionaries and articles have also been referred.

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Chapter 1 AUGUSTE COMTE: BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH


Isidore Auguste Marie Franois Xavier Comte (19 January 1798 5 September 1857), better known as Auguste Comte, was a French philosopher. He was a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism. He may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term. He is also called the father of Sociology.1 Comte was born in Montpellier, Hrault, in southern France on January 19, 1798. After attending the Lyce Joffre 2 and then the University of Montpellier, Comte was admitted to the cole Polytechnique in Paris. The cole Polytechnique was notable for its adherence to the French ideals of republicanism and progress. The cole closed in 1816 for reorganization, however, causing Comte to leave and continue his studies at the medical school at Montpellier. When the cole Polytechnique reopened, he did not request readmission.3 Following his return to Montpellier, Comte soon came to see unbridgeable differences with his Catholic and Monarchist family and set off again for Paris, earning money by small jobs. In August 1817 he became a student and secretary to Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de SaintSimon, who brought Comte into contact with intellectual society and greatly influenced his thought thereon. 4 Strongly influenced by the Utopian socialist Henri Saint-Simon, Comte developed the positive philosophy in an attempt to remedy the social malaise of the French revolution, calling for a new social doctrine based on the sciences. 5 Comte was a major influence to 19th century thought, impacting the work of social thinkers such as Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and George Eliot. 6 His concept of sociologie and social evolutionism, though now
1 2

Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 902 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) http://mediatheque.montpellier-agglo.com/22887393/0/fiche___document/&RH=1219250799417. Retrieved on 5th april 2012 at 4 pm. 3 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 904 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 4 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 672 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 5 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 12 (1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 6 http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture25a.html#course retrieved on 7th april 2012

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outdated, set the tone for early social theorists and anthropologists such as Harriet Martineau and Herbert Spencer, evolving into Modern academic sociology presented by mile Durkheim as practical and objective social research.7 Comte's social theories culminated in the "religion of humanity", which was influential to the development of religious humanist and Secular Humanist organizations in the 19th century. Comte likewise coined the word "altruism".8 It is during that time that Auguste Comte published his first essays in the various publications headed by Saint-Simon, L'Industrie, Le Politique, and L'Organisateur (Charles Dunoyer and Charles Comte's Le Censeur Europen), although he would not publish under his own name until 1819's "La sparation gnrale entre les opinions et les dsirs" ("The general separation of opinions and desires"). 9 In 1824, Comte left Saint-Simon, again because of unbridgeable differences. Comte published a Plan de travaux scientifiques ncessaires pour rorganiser la socit (1822) (Plan of scientific studies necessary for the reorganization of society). But he failed to get an academic post.10 His day-to-day life depended on sponsors and financial help from friends. Debates rage as to how much Comte appropriated from the work of Saint-Simon.11 Comte married Caroline Massin, but divorced in 1842. In 1826 he was taken to a mental health hospital, but left without being cured only stabilized by French alienist Esquirol so that he could work again on his plan (he would later attempt suicide in 1827 by jumping off the Pont des Arts). In the time between this and their divorce, he published the six volumes of his Cours.12 Comte developed a close friendship with John Stuart Mill. From 1844, Comte was involved with Clotilde de Vaux, a relationship that remained platonic. After her death in 1846 this love became quasi-religious, and Comte, working closely with Mill (who was refining his own such system) developed a new "religion of humanity".13 John Kells Ingram, an adherent of Comte, visited him 1855 in Paris.

7 8

C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 675 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Oxford English Dictionary: altruism. 2nd ed. 1989. http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50006618. 9 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 5 (1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 10 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 675(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 11 Pickering, Mary (1993) Auguste Comte: an intellectual biography Cambridge University Press, pp. 192 12 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 907 (44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 13 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 677(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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He published four volumes of Systme de politique positive (18511854). His final work, the first volume of "La Synthse Subjective" ("The Subjective Synthesis"), was published in 1856.14

Major Works of Auguste Comte are15


Plan des travaux scientifiques necessaires pour reorganiser la society, 1822. Cours de philosphie positive, 1830-42, A General View of Positivism, 1848. Systeme de philosophie positive, 1851-54. Catechisme positiviste, 1852. Appeal to Conservatives, 1855 Synthese subjective, 1856.

Comte died in Paris on 5 September 1857 from stomach cancer and was buried in the famous Cimetire du Pre Lachaise, surrounded by cenotaphs in memory of his mother, Rosalie Boyer, and of Caroline de Vaux. His apartment from 1841-1857 is now conserved as the Maison d'Auguste Comte and is located 10 rue Monsieur-le-Prince, in Paris' 6th arrondissement.16

14

C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 679(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Ibid 16 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 904 (44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010)
15

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Chapter 2 Positivism or the Positive Philosophy of Comte


The French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857) formulated a form of empiricism, which he called Positivism or the Positive Philosophy. As John Stuart Mill explains, Comte believed We have no knowledge of anything but Phenomena; and our knowledge of phenomena is relative, not absolute. We know neither the essence, nor the real mode of production, of any fact, but only its relations to other facts in the way of succession or of similitude. These relations are constant; that is, always the same in the same circumstances. The constant resemblances which link phenomena together, and the constant sequences which unite them as antecedent and consequent, are termed their laws. The laws of phenomena are all we know respecting them. Their essential nature, and their ultimate causes, either efficient or final, are unknown and inscrutable to us.17 Comte, Mill adds, claims no originality for this conception of human knowledge, for he believed anyone who made any real contribution to science implicitly adopted what he terms Positivism, and he considered Bacon, Descartes, and Galileo as collectively the founders of the Positive Philosophy, which came to fruition with Newton.18 Positivism is nothing but a philosophy of science. It has its roots in the empiricist tradition. It rejects metaphysical speculation in favour of positive knowledge based on systematic observation and experimentation.19 Positivism refers to the doctrine formulated by Comte which asserts that the only true knowledge is scientific knowledge, that ism knowledge which describes and explains the co-

17 18

Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 906 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) Auguste Comte, Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research,1998. 19 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 692 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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existence and succession of observable phenomena, including both physical and social phenomena.20 Comte used positivism in two distinct ways: i. Positivism as a doctrine: Positivism as a way of thinking is based on the assumption that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable, valid knowledge about how it works. Such knowledge can be used to affect the course of change and improve the human condition. Positivism of Comte which represents a philosophical position states that knowledge can be derived only from sensory experience. Metaphysical speculation, subjective or intuitive insight, and purely logical analysis, are rejected as outside the realm of true knowledge.21 ii. Positivism as a method: By the concept of positivism, Comte meant the application of scientific methods to understand society and its changes. Comte emphasised that sociology must depend on careful observation, usually based on statistical measures of social statics and social dynamics. He also recognised that sociology would have to be less experimental than the physical sciences because of the ethical and practical difficulties intervening in peoples lives.22

Comte regarded scientific knowledge as relative knowledge, not absolute. Absolute knowledge was, and always will be unattainable. Positivism would essentially mean a method of approach. The methods of science can give us knowledge of the laws of co-existence and succession of phenomena. According to Comte, positivism is purely an intellectual way of looking at the world. He believed that the mind should concentrate on the observation and classification of phenomena23. He believed that both theological and metaphysical speculations were as likely to be fiction as truth, and that there is no way of determining which the cause is. Thus, it would be more profitable if a person would direct his thoughts to the lines of thinking which are most truly prolific, namely to observe and classify data.24

20 21

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, pg. 506 (6 th Ed.) C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 620 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 22 Ibid 23 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 903 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 24 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology,901 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010)

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Comtes positivism has its own impact on the world of social thinking. Today, positivism signifies adherence to an empiricist view of the nature of science. It also projects a scientific approach to the study of social life on the empiricist model25. It also signifies an attempt to discover social laws similar to the law like regularities discovered by natural sciences and an absolute insistence on the separation of facts and values.26 Many criticisms have been levelled against positivism. Positivism has had relatively litte influence in contemporary sociology for several reasons. Current views argue that positivism encourages a misleading emphasis on superficial facts without any attention to underlying mechanisms that cannot be observed. Criticisms of positivism commonly focuses on the inappropriateness of natural-scientific methods in the human or social sciences.27 Consciousness, cultural norms, symbolic meaning, and intentionality, etc., are variously held to be distinctive human attributes which dictate a methodological gulf between natural sciences and the study of human social life.28 Methodologically, a central problem of positivism arises from the so-called problem of empiricism, the lack of any conclusive basis for verification in inductive to itself unverifiable.29

25

Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 6 (1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) Ibid 27 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 621 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 28 Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, pg.510 29 Collins Dictionary of Sociology, pg.507
26

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Chapter 3 Law of three stages


This law was given by Auguste Comte in his magnum opus Course de philosophie positive and in system de politique positive.30 By theory of the law of three stages Comte gave birth not only to a specific methology of studying knowledge but also analysed the evolution of human thinking and its various stages.31 The principle evolved by Comte in the study of human thinking presumes gradual evolution and development in human thinking and is known as the law of three stages of thinking. As Mill also points out32, Comte's uniqueness lay therefore not in originating Positivism but in placing it within a theory of history that claims human culture developed (and always must develop) in three stages, these three stages are: 1. Theological: In this stage human beings rely on supernatural agencies to explain what they can't explain otherwise.33 The Theological, which is the original and spontaneous form of thought, regards the facts of the universe as governed not by invariable laws of sequence, but by single and direct volitions of beings, real or imaginary, possessed of life and intelligence. In the infantile state of reason and experience, individual objects are looked upon as animated.34 The next step is the conception of invisible beings, each of whom superintends and governs an entire class of objects or events. The last merges this multitude of divinities in a single God, 35 who made the whole universe in the beginning, and guides and carries on its phaenomena by his continued action, or, as others think,

30 31

C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,630 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Ibid 32 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 910(44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 33 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 620 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 34 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 5 (1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 35 Paul B. Horton & Chester L. Hunt, Sociology, 100 (6 th Ed., Tata McGraw Hill) (2010)

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only modifies them from time to time by special interferences36. Hence in this stage we believe in supernatural powers. There are three aspects through which human passes in this stage. i. ii. Fetishism: people in this stage worship stones, trees ,land, plants etc and compare it to god. Polytheism: Here people worship different gods for different reasons and for different occasions. Some may worship many gods.37 iii. Monotheism: Here the human being is confused. The rationality of god merges into one. They worship one god. Priest and military are dominant classes in this stage. In the theological (the pre-Enlightenment phase) man's place in society was referenced to God or nature, in which the divine will subsumed human rights, and man blindly believed in whatever he was taught by his ancestors.38

2. Metaphysical: In this stage human beings attribute effects to abstract but poorly understood causes. It is the transitional stage between Theological and positive. Here a person applies his logic but does not deny the existence of god.39 They neither accept it nor reject it. Metaphysical, accounts for phaenomena by ascribing them, not to volitions either sublunary or celestial, but to realized abstractions.40 In this stage it is no longer a god that causes and directs each of the various agencies of nature: it is a power, or a force, or an occult quality, considered as real existences, inherent in but distinct from the concrete bodies in which they reside, and which they in a manner animate. 41 Instead of Dryads presiding over trees, producing and regulating their phenomena, every plant or animal has now a Vegetative Soul. Here Lawyers were dominant over other classes. In the metaphysical (the post-Enlightenment humanist phase) there was reference to explanations by impersonal abstract thought, and the universal rights of humanity were most important.42

36 37

Paul B. Horton & Chester L. Hunt, Sociology,109 (6 th Ed., Tata McGraw Hill) (2010) Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 14 (1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 38 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,650 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 39 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology,907 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 40 Ibid 41 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 20(1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 42 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 615(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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3. Positive: Here human beings understand the scientific laws that control the world. The positive stage represents the scientific way of thinking. 43 As Comte stated, In the final, the positive stage, the mind has given over the vain search after absolute notions, the origin and destination of the universe, and the causes phenomena, and applies itself to the study of their laws- that is their invariable relations of succession and resemblance.44 Comte developed his concept of positivism, which is a purely intellectual way of looking at the world. He stressed the need for observation and classification of phenomena. He even said that it is futile to try to determine cause. We can observe uniformities, or laws , but it is mere speculation to assign cause to these uniformities- he stated. Positivism actually glorified observation and classification of data. The positive thinking suits the needs of the industrial society45. This stage believed in industrialisation. In the positive (the final scientific stage) the search for absolute knowledge is abandoned, scientific explanation is based on observation, experiment and comparison, and individual rights are considered more important than the rule of any one person.Comte not only identified three stages in the development of human thinking but also observed three stages in the development of society or social organisation. Each of these modes of thinking determines and corresponds to a type of social organisation.46 He declared that theological thinking leads to a military and monarchical social organisation. Here the god would be there as the head of the hierarchy as king of kings and a mighty warrior. The human beings would be arranged in a military organisation. Divine sanction rules. This divine sanction could hardly be questioned or challenged. Dogmatism would prevail here and its challengers would be punished or threatened with severe punishments.47 Metaphysical thinking produces a government nominated by doctrines of abstract rights. It corresponds to a legalistic social organisation. The Medieval social organisation clearly represented this kind of society. Here the natural rights were substituted for divine rights. A

43

Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology,901 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010)

44 45

C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 629(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Ibid 46 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology,10 (1 st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 47 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 905(44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010)

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priesthood is furthered. Society becomes legalistic, formal and structural. In Europe nation-state emerged during this stage.48 Positive thinking produces a society dominated by industrialists. It leads to an industrial society in which men inquire into the nature and utilisation of the natural resources and forces. Here the main stress is on the transformation of the material resources of the earth for human benefit, and the production of material inventions. In this positive or scientific stage the great thought blends itself with the great power. Comte has made it abundantly clear that the intellectual evolution is the most important aspect in human progress. Still, he was aware of the importance of factors such as increase i n population, division of labour,etc in determining the rate of social progress.49 According to L.A. coser, It can hardly be questioned that Comtes Law of Three stages has a strongly materialistic or idealistic bias.50 According to Prof. N.S. Timasheff, Comtes law of three stages is the meaning ascribed to it by its inventor is clearly invalid. Neither of the later approaches wholly supersede the religious approach; rather, there has been accumulation and often admixture of the three.51

48 49

Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology,11 (1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 930(44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 50 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,630 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 51 Ibid

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Chapter 4 Hierarchy of the sciences


Comtes theory of hierarchy of sciences is connected with the law of three stages. In fact, hierarchy of the sciences, are based on the notion that each subject has evolved from a general, simple to a highly complex level. In this regard, Comte states, Any kind of knowledge reaches the positive stage early in proportion to its generality, simplicity, and independence of the other departments. 52 According to this view hierarchy of sciences evolved from mathematics to sociology. i.e. mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and finally the positive science of society called sociology. Each science in the series depends for its emergence on the prior developments of its predecessors in a hierarchy marked by the law of increasing complexity and decreasing generality.53 The second pillar of positive philosophy, the law of the classification of the sciences, has withstood the test of time much better than the law of the three stages. Of the various classifications that have been proposed, it is Comte's that is still the most popular today. 54 This classification, too, structures the Course, which examines each of the six fundamental sciences mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, sociologyin turn55. It provides a way to do justice to the diversity of the sciences without thereby losing sight of their unity. This classification also makes Comte the founder of the philosophy of science in the modern sense. From Plato to Kant, reflection on science had always occupied a central place in philosophy, but the sciences had to be sufficiently developed for their diversity to manifest itself. It was thanks to his education at the cole Polytechnique that Comte, from 1818, began to develop the concept of a philosophy of science56. At about the same time Bolzano wrote his Wissenschaftslehre (1834) and Mill his System of Logic (1843), Comte's Coursepresented in sequence a philosophy of mathematics, of astronomy, of physics, of chemistry, of biology, and of sociology. 57 Comte's
52 53

Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 19 (1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) Ibid 54 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 903(44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 55 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 613 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 56 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,615 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 57 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology,918 (44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010)

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classification is meant not to restore a chimerical unity, but to avoid the fragmentation of knowledge. Thanks to it, the sciences are related to one another in an encyclopedic scale that goes from the general to the particular, and from the simple to the complex: moving from mathematics to sociology, generality decreases and complexity increases. The law of classification of the sciences also has a historical aspect: it gives us the order in which the sciences develop. For example, astronomy requires mathematics, and chemistry requires physics. Each science thus rests upon the one that precedes it. As Comte puts it, the higher depends on the lower, but is not its result. The recognition of an irreducible diversity already contains a disavowal of reductionism (in Comte's wording: materialism), which the classification allows one to make explicit. The positivist clearly sees that the tendency towards reductionism is fed by the development of scientific knowledge itself, where each science participates in the evolution of the next; but history also teaches us that each science, in order to secure its own subject matter, has to fight invasions by the preceding one. Thus it appears that Materialism is a danger inherent in the mode in which the scientific studies necessary as a preparation for Positivism were pursued. Each science tended to absorb the one next to it, on the grounds of having reached the positive stage earlier and more thoroughly58. While philosophers of science have always recognized the place of Comte in the history of their discipline, the philosophy of science presented in the Course, and a fortiori the one in the System, have hardly been studied (Laudan 1981). Comte's philosophy of science is based on a systematic difference between method and doctrine.59 These are, to use Comtean terminology, opposed to one another, as the logical point of view and the scientific point of view. Method is presented as superior to doctrine: scientific doctrines change (that is what progress means), but the value of science lies in its methods60. At the level of doctrine, mathematics has a status of its own, well indicated in the second lesson, where it is presented last, and as if to make up for something forgotten. As much as it is itself a body of knowledge, it is an instrument of discovery in the other sciences, an organon in the Aristotelian sense. Among the remaining sciences, leaving sociology aside for the moment, two occupy a pre-eminent place:

58 59

Course De Positive Philosophy, (1851) ( Vol 1,pg. 39) Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 900(44 th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 60 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,640 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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Astronomy and biology are, by their nature, the two principal branches of natural philosophy. 61 They, the complement of each other, include the general system of our fundamental conceptions in their rational harmony. The solar system and Man are the extremes within which our ideas will forever be included. The system first, and then Man, according to the course of our speculative reason: and the reverse in the active process: the laws of the system determining those of Man, and remaining unaffected by them62. The positive method comes in different forms, according to the science where it is applied: in astronomy it is observation, in physics experimentation, in biology comparison. The same point of view is also behind the general theory of hypotheses in the 28th lesson, a centerpiece of the positive philosophy of science. 63 Finally, classification is the key to a theory of technology. The reason is that there exists a systematic connection between complexity and modifiability: the more complex a phenomenon is, the more modifiable it is.64 The order of nature is a modifiable order. Human action takes place within the limits fixed by nature and consists in replacing the natural order by an artificial one. Comte's education as an engineer had made him quite aware of the links between science and its applications, which he summarized in an oft-quoted slogan: From science comes prevision, from prevision comes action. Only death prevented him from writing the System of Positive Industry, or Treatise on the Total Action of Humanity on the Planet, announced as early as 1822.65 In totality the hierarchy of science is linked to the law of three stages. And its main purpose was to classify the knowledge on the basis of the principle of increasing dependence. The classification begins with Mathematics and ends with sociology. It classifies the sciences into Inorganic and organic and emphasizes on a holistic approach in social science.66

61 62

Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology,910 (44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) Course de Positive Philosophy, Pg. 718 (1830) (vol. 1) 63 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 617(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 64 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology,7 (1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 65 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 17(1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 66 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 640(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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Auguste Comte and his Sociological Thoughts

Chapter 5 Comtes views regarding Sociology and Religion of Humanity


Comte is regarded as the father of sociology. According to him, sociology represents the culmination of the development of sciences.67 It is based on Mathematics and is dependent on biology, chemistry, physics and astronomy. These sciences have taken time to become free from theological and metaphysical speculation and thinking. Hence, Comte argued that sociology too would require some time to attain the full status of the positive science. Comte believed that sociology would be helped to become scientific by means of his writings.68 According to Comte, there are two divisions in Sociology: Social Statics and Social Dynamics. The distinction between these two does not refer to two classes of facts , but they represent two aspects of the same theory. The distinction corresponds to the double conception of order and progress. Order and progress, or statics and dynamics, are hence always correlative to each other.69 i. Social statics: It refers to the study of the laws of action and reaction of the different parts of social order. It studies the balance of mutual relations of elements within a social whole. It deals with the major institutions of society such as family, economy or policy.70 It inquires into the co-existence of social-phenomena. Comte stressed that there must always be a spontaneous harmony between the whole and the part of the social system. The parts of a society cannot be studied separately as if they had an independent existence. When the harmony between the parts is lacking a pathological situation may prevail. Social statics emphasises the unity of society or social organisation.71
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C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 621(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 930(44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 69 Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology, 931 (44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 70 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology,30 (1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 71 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 622(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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ii. Social Dynamics: It focuses on whole societies as the unit of analysis, and reveals how they developed and changed through time. Social dynamics was equated by Comte with human progress and evolution. 72 It inquires as to how the human civilisation progresses in different stages. Comte was convinced towards ever increasing perfection.

Comte defined Sociology as the science of social phenomena subject to natural and invariable laws the discovery of which is the object of our investigation. He mentioned the following features of sociology in some or the other context73. 1. Soiology is the objective analysis of social phenomena. 2. Sociology is an abstract science 3. Sociology is a synthetic science. It synthesises the knowledge of all other sciences. 4. It can make predictions 5. It is a science committed to social reconstruction and moral rejuvenation.

The religion of Humanity


The System's subtitle is Treatise on Sociology Instituting the Religion of Humanity. While the different forms of deism preserve the idea of God and dissolve religion into a vague religiosity, Comte proposes exactly the contrary: a religion with neither God nor the supernatural. His project had little success; he even accomplished a tour de force by uniting both believers and non-believers against him. The many ridiculous details of Comte's religion made the task of his opponents even easier. But this aspect of Comte's thought deserves better than the discredit into which it has fallen74. Comte defines religion as the state of complete harmony peculiar to human life [] when all the parts of Life are ordered in their natural relations to each other. Comte also defines religion as a consensus, analogous to what health is for the body. Religion has two functions, according to the point of view from which one considers existence: in its moral function, religion should govern each individual; in its political function, it should unite all individuals. Religion also has
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C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,630 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 634(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) 74 Course de Positive Philosophy, 8 (1851, vol. 2)

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three components, corresponding to the threefold division of the cerebral table: doctrine, worship, and moral rule (discipline). Comte's discussion is mainly about the first two. If one considers the first to be related to faith and the second to love, their relation takes two forms: Love comes first and leads us to the faith, so long as the growth is spontaneous; but when it becomes systematic, then the belief is constructed in order to regulate the action of love75. At first, Comte had followed the traditional order and presented doctrine before worship, but he soon gave priority to worship, and saw this change as a considerable step forward. In the positivist religion, worship, doctrine and moral rule all have the same object, namely Humanity, which must be loved, known, and served. Already the General Conclusions of theCourse compared the concept of Humanity to that of God, affirming the moral superiority of the former. But only in 1847 does Comte make the substitution explicitly; sociological synthesis comes to replace theological synthesis. Membership of Humanity is sociological, not biological. In order to belong to what is defined as the continuous whole of convergent beings Comte's term for (mainly human) beings who tend to agree one has to be worthy of it. All producers of dung are excluded; conversely, animals that have rendered important services can be included. Strictly speaking, it is to sociology that one should turn for knowledge of the laws of the human order but, as the final science recapitulates all others, it is the whole encyclopaedic scale (chelle ; it is the result of the classification of sciences), that constitutes the doctrine of the new religion, which thereby becomes demonstrated and is no longer revealed or inspired.76 The principal novelty of Comte's religion therefore resides in worship, which is both private (taking place within the family) and public. The positivists set up a whole system of prayers, hymns, and sacraments (Wright 1986). As these were all largely inspired by Catholic worship, it was said that it was catholicism without Christ, to which the positivists replied that it was catholicism plus science. The best known and most original aspects of Comte's religion are found in its public worship, and in the positivist liturgical calendar. As Humanity consists more of dead than living beings, positivism designed a whole system of commemorations, which were to develop the sense of Humanity's historical continuity. Thus, the worship of Humanity takes is the worship of great men. Unlike the French revolutionary calendar, which followed the rhythm

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Course de Positive Philosophy, 83 (1852, vol. 2) C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society,650 (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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of the seasons, the positivist calendar takes its inspiration from history and pays homage to great men from all nations and all times. The wish to maintain the distinction between temporal and spiritual powers led Comte and his followers to demand the separation of Church and State. It has been noticed less often, however, that the two forms of power stand in differing relations to space.77 Its characteristic alliance of the monarchy with the people against the aristocracy was accompanied by centralization that the Revolution contented itself with consolidating. One might therefore be led to believe that Comte was a partisan of centralized political (that is: temporal) power, whereas the contrary was in fact the case, as he proposed to divide France into seventeen administrative regions, more or less equivalent to the old provinces78 . Centralization applies only to the spiritual power.

The theory of religion of humanity represents a radical change in the development of Comtes rational thinking. Its salient features are:79 1. It is a religion without god 2. Sociologist-priests constitute the moral guides of the comtean concept of a new society. 3. It is a new religion which has been designed to begin a new epoch 4. It is a social religion based upon morality. 5. It is not in favour of traditional Christianity. 6. It is virtually a religion of Human Unity. Critical Comments:80 1. Comtean religion of humanity has been widely criticized. Christian scholars say that the religion of humanity is nothing more than a mixture of science and catholic religion. 2. Some have commented that it is not a religion but primarily a code of morality. 3. Thomas Huxley called Comtes religion Catholicism minus Christianity. Some criticize it as a highly egoistic religion 4. Many consider it utopian in character.

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C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 661(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, An introduction to Sociology,919 (44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers) (2010) 79 Sujit Kumar Choudhary, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology, 12(1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) (2006) 80 C.N. Shankar Rao, Sociology of Indian Society, 663(S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi)

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Major Findings

Though Comtes ideas have been widely criticized it would be unjust to say that Comte just introduced the term sociology and did nothing to develop it. His insistence on positive approach, objectivity and scientific attitude contributed to the progress of social sciences in general. Comtes ideas relating to the Law of three stages reveal that man became more and more rational and scientific in his approach by gradually giving up speculations, imaginations etc.

He also showed that there is a close relation between intellectual evolution and social progress. His classification has shown why sociology depends on other sciences. Comte contributed to the growth of theoretical sociology because he did a lot of analytical work. The division between social statics and social dynamics is valid and important even today. He attempted to uphold the moral order in the society through his religion of humanity. He also became a guide and a source of inspiration for many social thinkers.

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Conclusion

Comte made many contributions to Sociology and hence was called the Father of Sociology. Comte thought of sociology as a positivistic science and elaborated four methods of sociology. He distinguished social statics from social dynamics. He was a macrosociologist and viewed social structures as taming individual egoism. He offered a dialectical view of structural change. He attempted to integrate theory and practice. But his theories failed on many aspects. His thought was distorted by his own experiences in life. He was out of touch with the real world. His empirical work is laughable, and his theoretical work far too generalized. His work is only marginally sociological. He made no original contributions to sociology. His sociology was primitive in its organicism i.e., he crudely viewed society in terms of the workings of the human body. Comte heavyhandedly imposed his theoretical frameworks on the data he was analyzing. His selfconceit led him to make many ridiculous pronouncements and blunders. His positivist religion is strangely similar to Catholicism, which casts doubt on his scientific intentions. His plans for the future appear totalitarian and bizarre. Comte represents a general retreat from Enlightenment humanism that has continued to this day. His positivist ideology, rather than celebrating the rationality of the individual and wanting to protect people from state interference, fetishised the scientific method, proposing that a new ruling class of technocrats should decide how society should be run and how people should behave. This idea has its seeds in Saint-Simons thought but finds its expression in a much more developed authoritarian form in Comte.

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Bibliography

Books
Giddens, Anthony, (2008) Sociology, (5th Ed)., Winley India, New Delhi. Horton Paul B. & Chester L. Hunt,(2010) Sociology, (6th Ed., Tata McGraw Hill) Rao,C.N. Shankar, Sociology of Indian Society, (S. Chand Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) Choudhary Sujit Kumar, Thinkers and Theories in Sociology,(2006) (1st Ed., Gagandeep Publishers) Vidhya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva, (2010)An introduction to Sociology, (44th Ed., Kitab Mahal Publishers)

Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Comte http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/comte/ http://www.6sociologists.20m.com/comte.html http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/130750/Auguste-Comte http://membres.multimania.fr/clotilde/ http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Comte.htm http://www.victorianweb.org/philosophy/comte.html http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/comte.html http://www.thegreatdebate.org.uk/Comte1.html http://www.biography.com/people/auguste-comte-9254680

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