PositivismPositivism

Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857)

Positivism – philosophy of human intellectual development that climaxed in science.

Comte argued that human thought had developed in three stages:

1. Theological – everything explained in terms of divine spirits

2. Metaphysical – everything is guided by abstract principles.

3. Positive/Scientific – everything should be explained through scientific analysis

Father of Sociology – use observable facts to develop scientific laws of social progress.