Auguste Comte was a French thinker who founded positivism and gave sociology its name. He believed humanity passes through stages and would arrive at an era guided by science. His ideas left a deep mark on Brazil: the motto Order and Progress on the flag comes directly from him, and a Positivist Church still exists there today.
Core ideas
Humanity evolves from a religious stage to the metaphysical and, finally, the scientific
Only knowledge based on observation and verifiable laws is reliable
Society can be studied scientifically, as physics studies nature
The tradition: Positivist
Positivism holds that only science, grounded in observable facts, produces valid knowledge, and that it should guide society. Comte is the creator and main name of this doctrine.
