Selections from the most important and representative writings of the philosopher, economist, social reformer and political activist August Cieszkowski (1814 1894).

Although Auguste Comte is conventionally acknowledged as one of the founders of sociology and as a key representative of positivism, few new editions of his writings have been published in the English language in this century. He has become virtually dissociated from the history of modern positivism and the most recent debates about it. Gertrud Lenzer maintains that the work of Comte is, for better or for worse, essential to an understanding of the modern period of positivism. This collection provides (...) new access to the work of Comte and gives practitioners of various disciplines the possibility of reassessing concepts that were first introduced in Comte's writings. Today much of the ordinary business of academic disciplines is conducted under the assumption that the realm of science is essentially separate from the realms of politics and science. A close reading of Comte will reveal how deeply such current ideas and theories were originally embedded in a particular political context. One of his central methodological principles was that the theory of society had to be removed from the arena of political practice precisely in order to control that practice by means of these same sciences. It is in Comte's work that the reader will be able to observe how the forces of social and political reaction began to be powerfully organized to combat the critical forces in its own and later eras. Auguste Comte and Positivism will be of importance to the work of philosophers, sociologists, political theorists, and historians. (shrink)

t. 1. Les religions de l'Inde, et Bulletins des religions de l'Inde (1880-1885) -- t. 2. Bulletins des religions de l'Inde (1889-1902) -- t. 3. Comptes rendus et notices (1872-1886) -- t. 4. Comptes rendus et notices (1887-1898) -- t. 5. Comptes rendus et notices (1899-1911). Bibiliographie. Index général.

t. 1.- Cours de philosophie positive. v. 1: Les préliminaires généraux et la philosophie mathématique.--v. 2: La philosophie astronomique et la philosophie de la physique. v. 3: La philosophie chimique et la philosophie biologique.

" Pour devenir un parfait philosophe, il me manquait surtout une passion, a la fois profonde et pure, qui me fit assez apprecier la partie affective de la nature humaine " note Auguste Comte dans ses " Prieres quotidiennes " redigees peu apres 1845, cette " annee sans pareille " au cours de laquelle il rencontre, frequente et voit disparaitre Clotilde de Vaux a laquelle il voue un amour eperdu. Cette relation aussi profonde et intense que physiquement ephemere ne bouleverse (...) pas seulement la vie privee du fondateur du positivisme. La decouverte du role preponderant de l'affectivite dans les relations humaines et sociales inflechit de maniere definitive la doctrine positiviste dont la nouvelle devise devient L'amour pour principe, l'ordre pour base et le progres pour but. L'edifice theorique qu'est le Systeme de politique positive developpe l'idee d'un " nouveau pouvoir spirituel " qui prendra la forme d'une " religion de l'Humanite " a laquelle l'ordre et le progres doivent etre subordonnes, de meme que l'esprit au cur. Ce numero explore sous differents angles les implications de cet inflechissement majeur a l'uvre dans la philosophie positive, et sa complexe actualite. (shrink)

August, John Review(s) of: Contempt of court: Unofficial voices from the dogs Australian high court case 1981, by Jean Ely, Dissenters Press, West Melbourne 2011 $29.95.

A keen student of theology, August Friedrich Gfrörer became professor of history at the University of Freiburg and also sat as a representative in the Frankfurt parliament, agitating for the reunification of Protestantism and Catholicism. His academic work marked the modern period in the Christian study of Judaism, making full use of primary sources without pursuing an obvious apologetic or polemical agenda. This two-volume work, published in 1831, is a critical study of early Christianity and the influence that Judaism (...) had on the New Testament. Volume 1 provides a thorough exposition of Philo of Alexandria's philosophy and theology. Gfrörer also offers a biographical sketch of Philo and gives an informative overview of his writings and his time. (shrink)

A keen student of theology, August Friedrich Gfrörer became professor of history at the University of Freiburg and also sat as a representative in the Frankfurt parliament, agitating for the reunification of Protestantism and Catholicism. His academic work marked the modern period in the Christian study of Judaism, making full use of primary sources without pursuing an obvious apologetic or polemical agenda. This two-volume work, published in 1831, is a critical study of early Christianity and the influence that Judaism (...) had on the New Testament. Volume 1 provides a thorough exposition of Philo of Alexandria's philosophy and theology. Gfrörer also offers a biographical sketch of Philo and gives an informative overview of his writings and his time. (shrink)

Evolutionary theory is one of the most widely misunderstood and consistently rejected concepts in the whole of science. In Understanding Evolution, Kostas Kampourakis investigates the psychological dimensions of this popular discontent with evolutionary theory. At the heart of this persisting public disenchantment with the theory lies the thoroughly counterintuitive, even alien, nature of biological evolution. Historically, people have rejected evolution on religious, ethical, and existential grounds, but there is a psychological component to our aversion to evolution. It simply does not (...) resonate with human expectations about how the world should work. Kampourakis does an excellent job presenting evolutionary theory and summarizing the evidence for it. Ultimately, he argues that in spite of powerful emotional and instinctual forces arrayed against it, we have much to gain by allowing the evolutionary picture to enrich our understanding of the world. If we allow the full drama of the history of life on Earth to present itself to us, we can place ourselves within that drama and find ways to relate it meaningfully to our lives without psychological barriers mounted by disdain and discomfort. (shrink)

Im "Discours sur l'esprit positif" (1844) begündet Auguste Comte (1798-1857) seinen utopischen Entwurf einer von wissenschaftlichen Prinzipien geleiteten und auf positive Erkenntnisse (wahrgenommene Tatsachen) gestützten zivilisatorischen Erneuerung der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft. Comte untermauert und bestärkt hier den Fortschrittsglauben des frühen 19. Jahrhunderts. Somit gilt der Text als Programm- und Hauptschrift des >klassischen Positivismus.

This article investigates the causal efficacy of social properties, which faces the following puzzle. First, for both intuitive and scientific reasons, it seems social properties have causal import. But, second, social properties are also characteristically extrinsic: to have some social property depends, in typical cases, on what one’s society is like around them. And, third, there is good reason to doubt that extrinsic properties make a genuine causal contribution. After elaborating on these three claims, I defend the following resolution to (...) the puzzle: social causation occurs at the level at which social properties are intrinsic. (shrink)

« Au nom du passé et de l'avenir, les serviteurs théoriques et les serviteurs pratiques de l'humanité viennent prendre dignement la direction générale des affaires terrestres, pour construire enfin la vraie providence, morale, intellectuelle, et matérielle; en excluant irrévocablement de la suprématie politique tous les divers esclaves de Dieu, catholiques, protestants, ou déistes, comme étant à la fois arriérés et perturbateurs. » Telle fut la proclamation décisive par laquelle, au Palais-Cardinal, je terminai, le dimanche 19 octobre 1851. après un résumé (...) de cinq heures, mon troisième Cours philosophique sur l'histoire générale de l'humanité. Depuis cette mémorable clôture, la publication du tome deuxième de mon Système de politique positive vient de constater directement combien une semblable destination sociale convient à la philosophie capable d'inspirer la théorie la plus systématique de l'ordre humain... (shrink)

"Après la proclamation de la république, en 1848, Auguste Comte (1798-1857), le fondateur du positivisme, remanie son système et fonde la religion de l'Humanité. Considérant que le moment est venu de terminer la révolution et de donner à la société son organisation définitive, il expose son programme, de 1849 à 1851, dans des leçons publiques sur l'histoire de l'Humanité destinées à rallier le peuple parisien, où il dresse le tableau de l'avenir d'après l'ensemble du passé et prépare ce qui allait (...) devenir le Système de politique positive (1851-1854). Aucune trace écrite de cet enseignement ne nous était parvenue jusqu'à la découverte récente du manuscrit de César Lefort, un document unique qui nous renseigne sur la forme et les enjeux de ce que Comte appelait lui-même ses « prédications hebdomadaires ». L'édition critique de ce cours comporte une introduction dans laquelle L. Fedi restitue le contexte et étudie les transformations doctrinales et organisationnelles du positivisme."--Back cover. (shrink)

This edition of the French philosopher Auguste Comte's (1798-1857) early essays shows Comte at the heart of the political and intellectual debates of Restoration France. The young Comte forged the central features of his philosophical system in response to the central challenge of the 1820s - how to find a new foundation for political legitimacy and thus to 'close' the revolutionary era. Stuart Jones's introduction to this new edition shows how Comte grappled with problems that confronted liberals and counter-revolutionaries alike, (...) and identifies the novelty of his solution. The essays presented in this edition reveal the systematizing character of Comte's intellect, which lay at the root of his enormous appeal to nineteenth-century readers. In addition to the substantial introduction, this volume contains a chronology, biographical information on key figures, and a bibliographical note making this an accessible volume highly suitable for undergraduate use. (shrink)

Orthodoxy holds that the difference between weakness of will and compulsion is a matter of the resistibility of an agent's effective motivation, which makes control-based views of agency especially well equipped to distinguish blameworthy weak-willed acts from non-blameworthy compulsive acts. I defend an alternative view that the difference between weakness and compulsion instead lies in the fact that agents would upon reflection give some conative weight to acting on their weak-willed desires for some aim other than to extinguish them, but (...) not to their compulsive desires. This view allows identificationist theorists of moral responsibility to explain why weak-willed actions, but not compulsive actions, are attributable to agents such that they can, in theory, be praised or blamed for them. After motivating and presenting the view in detail, I show how it has unique resources for explaining the ethics of managing one's compulsions. (shrink)

The pseudosciences often bear a striking resemblance to the sciences. Using a mimicry account as a framework, this paper investigates how the appearance of social media posts influences people’s perception of the content of such posts as scientific. We present the results of two empiri- cal studies. The first, preparatory study identifies typical characteristics of “scientificness” in social media posts to inform feature manipulations for the main study. The main study then examines what happens if the features are systematically manipulated. (...) The findings support the hypothesis that pseudoscientific digital content benefits from using features of scientificness. We discuss implications for understanding the appeal and persistence of pseudoscience. (shrink)