Dec 5, 2008
Article abstract: One of the greatest systematic thinkers of nineteenth century France, Comte was the father of positivism, a philosophy which saw the evolution of new ideas as the shaping force in history and regarded the empirical method of science as the only valid basis of knowledge. Comte sought to extend the method of science to the study of man, coining the word “sociology.” His later thought took a Romantic swing, emphasizing the primacy of the feelings, glorifying religion in a secular guise, and proposing a highly regulated social order.
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