The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte: Volume 2

Product Description The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte is a condensed English version of the French philosopher's controversial work, freely translated by Harriet Martineau and published in two volumes in 1853. Martineau's abridged and more easily digestible version of Comte's work was intended to be readily accessible to a wide general readership, particularly those she felt to be morally and intellectually adrift, and Comte's philosophy indeed attracted a significant following in Britain in the later nineteenth century. Comte's 'doctrine' promoted personal and public ethics and social cohesion based no longer on metaphysics but on strict scientific method, and anticipated twentieth-century logical positivism and secular humanism. The second volume of this translation is devoted entirely to Comte's new science of 'social physics' and human progress, and outlines his theories about society and its development through various phases - theological, humanistic and finally scientific. Book Description This is a condensed English translation, first published in 1853, of the French philosopher Auguste Comte's controversial work. It presents Comte's influential 'doctrine' of positivism, which promoted personal and public ethics based no longer on metaphysics but on strict scientific method. Volume 2 outlines Comte's 'new science' of 'social physics'. About the Author Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) authored Society in America (1837) and Retrospect of Western Travel (1838), which are considered to be major analyses of American life.