Auguste Comte and Positivism: Full Text of 1865 Edition

by John Stuart Mill

The book has an active table of contents for easy access to each chapter.

John Stuart Mill made essential contributions to social theory, political theory, and political economy. He has been called "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century".

Auguste Comte was a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism.
Comte developed a close friendship with John Stuart Mill. From 1844, Comte, working closely with John Mill, developed a new "Religion of Humanity".

For those readers who need to learn Mill’s thoughts of Comte’s positivism, this is the right one for them.

John Mill is known as one of the founders of economics. This is a must-read book for people who are interested in the deepest thoughts about the subjects of positivism and economy by John Mill, one of the greatest thinkers on the planet.

Genres: Philosophy, Sociology, Nonfiction, History, Biography, Anthropology

141 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1865

About the author

John Stuart Mill, English philosopher, political economist, civil servant and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. He was an exponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although his conception of it was very different from Bentham's.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Auguste Comte is so bad... J.S. Mill seems to admire him in many ways, but also criticizes the more obviously weak points of the philosophy. Comtean Positivism reeks of narcissism, suffers from an inability to abstract from a western cultural context, an inability to abstract from a 19th century context, and totally lacks an understanding of the introspective process or an acknowledgement of even the concept of qualia. Put simply, in the mildly offensive contemporary internet terminology, Comte is an "Autiste" par excellence. That is of course why Mill, a fellow Autiste but of lower power level, finds him so admirable. There is very little of value in here which was not already discovered by British Empiricism, or perhaps other forms of Empiricism. Comte actually believed in book burning, authoritarian highly intrusive government with enforced monolithic school curricula, rule by bankers, killing all plant and animal life which didn't serve human interests at the time he was alive, and many other absurd claims. He also avoided reading any other books lest they interfere with his "brilliance". Moreover he claims that these things are objectively good, and we can derive that from first principles. His philosophy is one of insanity, which marks out this certain type of French thinking. This obsessive constructivism, an unwarrantedly rigid demand for proof and demand that all bodies of knowledge have a foundation in a scientific fact, and unwarranted overconfidence in the supreme reliability of one's reasoning. And yet, Comte is so arrogant that he doesn't even stick by this restriction, and feels free to occasionally make comments derived from intuition, which we are to believe as true. This book gets 3 stars because it sympathetically lays out a philosophy for you to view, which is so insane and horrifying that you cannot look away.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting introduction to Comte, an eccentric genius. The comments seem sharp and unbiased.

[Allan Olley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a relatively engaging summary of Comte's philosophical, scientific, political and religious positions. It also contains Mil's criticism of Comte's positions. The account often also gives a sense of Mill's position on issues like the proper definition of science as he contrasts his ideas with Comte's in his analysis. Therefore it also makes a rather compact summary of Mill's position on various issues.

[Scott Mckenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Stuart Mill's "essay" provides an honest account of Comte's principal works in a relatively succinct form. Mill doesn't shy away from criticizing Comte's absurd notions of "regeneration of human society," through which the institution of "Positive Religion" would be instituted for all of humanity. This essays offers very compelling counterarguments to the subtle and blatant shortcomings of Comte's ideas.

[Arno Mosikyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The golden rule of morality, in M. Comte's religion, is to live for others, “vivre pour autrui.”

All education and all moral discipline should have but one object, to make altruism (a word of his own coining) predominate over egoism.

[Gil Rosado · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding and essential work that should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in philosophy, psychology, sociology and human development

[real_sandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much fun!

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book if you're into the origins of sociology. It begins with an overview of how man has explained the natural phenomena. It started with fetishism, then polytheism, monotheism, metaphysics and finally positivism which uses empirical data to prove the natural laws. Comte used the methodology of the physical sciences to establish laws for the social sciences. He was a proponent of a humanist religion in order to perfect society. Mill was a contemporary of his and agreed with some of his theories but in this book he criticized many of his findings.

[Greyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great insight into the high peaks and inevitable valleys that come when a great mind has the time to produce an immense and seminal body of work.

[Onyango Makagutu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read

[Rich B]

By