Auguste Comte
1798 – 1857 French philosopher, sociologist
The founder of sociology and of positivist philosophy.
- Religion
- Abandoned Catholicism and later founded his own secular Religion of Humanity, with rituals but no God.
- Affiliations
- Founder of positivism. No secret society.
Comte held that knowledge passes through religious, metaphysical, and finally scientific stages, and that society itself can be studied scientifically. He coined the word sociology and founded the discipline. Late in life he tried to turn positivism into a secular religion.