Auguste Comte

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Auguste Comte
Comte in 1849
Born	Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (1798-01-19)19 January 1798 Montpellier, French First Republic
Died	5 September 1857(1857-09-05) (aged 59) Paris, Second French Empire
Education	University of Montpellier École Polytechnique
Spouse	Caroline Massin ​ ​ (m. 1825; div. 1842)​
Era	19th-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy French philosophy
School	Positivism
Notable ideas	Altruism Encyclopedic law Hierarchy of the sciences Law of three stages Positivist calendar Religion of Humanity Sociological positivism

Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte (/kɒnt/; French: [oɡyst kɔ̃t] ^ⓘ; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857)^[1] was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.^[2] Comte's ideas were also fundamental to the development of sociology, with him inventing the very term and treating the discipline as the crowning achievement of the sciences.^[3][4]

Influenced by Henri de Saint-Simon,^[1] Comte's work attempted to remedy the social disorder caused by the French Revolution, which he believed indicated imminent transition to a new form of society. He sought to establish a new social doctrine based on science, which he labelled positivism. He had a major impact on 19th-century thought, influencing the work of social thinkers such as John Stuart Mill and George Eliot.^[5] His concept of Sociologie and social evolutionism set the tone for early social theorists and anthropologists such as Harriet Martineau and Herbert Spencer, evolving into modern academic sociology presented by Émile Durkheim as practical and objective social research.

Comte's social theories culminated in his "Religion of Humanity",^[1] which presaged the development of non-theistic religious humanist and secular humanist organisations in the 19th century. He may also have coined the word altruisme (altruism).^[6]