The ''Course of Positive Philosophy'' (''Cours de Philosophie Positive'') was a series of texts written by the French

philosopher of science A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and founding sociologist,

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of ...

, between 1830 and 1842. Within the work he unveiled the

epistemological Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

perspective of

positivism Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...

. The works were translated into English by

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoreti ...

and condensed to form ''The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte'' (1853).

Content

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.Bourdeau, Michel
"Auguste Comte"
''

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...

'' (Summer 2011 Edition) For him, the physical sciences, which were 'simple', had necessarily to arrive first, before humanity could adequately channel its efforts into the most challenging and complex "queen science" of human society itself. Comte believed that social harmony is possible only when there is intellectual harmony, which is in turn possible only when all social sciences have entered the phase of positivism, with Sociology being the last to arrive. Then everybody should be taught modern science so that they can internalize the new scientific values in their lives. His ''

A General View of Positivism ''A General View of Positivism'' (''Discours sur l'ensemble du positivisme'') is a 1844 book by the French philosopher Auguste Comte, first published in English in 1865. A founding text in the development of positivism and the discipline of sociol ...

'' (published in English in 1865) would therefore set out to define, in more detail, the empirical goals of sociology.

References

Positivism Modern philosophical literature 1842 non-fiction books Epistemology literature Philosophy of science books Auguste Comte Works about philosophy of social sciences {{science-philo-stub