Introduction

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. Comte believes that society evolves through a series of stages that are ruled by social laws and culminate in a superior form of social life. Positivism itself is a combination of philosophy and way of life. Comte goes into surprising detail, going so far as to describe minute like how children should be educated, the structure of a unified global committee of nations, new flags, calendars, the role of the arts, and so on. He ends the book with what he calls the 'Religion of Humanity', a secular religion meant to replace the traditional religions that people of the time were becoming disillusioned with.

Comte was born around the end of the French Revolution, and lived in Paris during that time when republican ideas, respect for science, and a revolutionary and forward-thinking spirit made fertile ground for change.