Comte after Positivism
Published on 27. October 1995
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-0-521-47488-7 (ISBN)
Description
This 1996 book provides a detailed, systematic reconsideration of the neglected nineteenth-century positivist Auguste Comte. Apart from offering an accurate account of what Comte actually wrote, the book argues that Comte's positivism has never had greater contemporary relevance than now. The aim of the first part of the book is to rescue Comte from the influential misinterpretation of his work by John Stuart Mill. The second part argues that this deep historically-minded concern with the tradition of philosophy for current philosophical practice places Comte in the same camp as such well-known post-positivists as Richard Rorty, Charles Taylor, and Hilary Putnam. Professor Scharff concludes that, even though he was the first positivist, Comte is also the only positivist who retains his relevance today.
Reviews / Votes
"This is the first volume to give an accurate account of his [Comte] principle teachings as well as a reassessment of his philosophical position in the light of post-positivistic intellectual trends....Recommended." The Reader's Review "Scharff's Comte After Positivism is a brilliant work of anamnesis; not a reproduction or a re-presentation of things past, nor an image of lost object, but rather a presentation of current philosophical amnesiacs acting out--but not always working through--scenes of their historical past....offers timely and insightful suggestions for a viable postanalytic philosophy." The European Legacy "Comte After Positivism provides telling intellectual history, incisive diagnosis of our present philosophical impasse, and a coherent vision of what postpositivist philosophy could become." Laurence D. Smith, The Journal of Mind and BehaviourMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
559 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-47488-7 (9780521474887)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Robert C. Scharff is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of New Hampshire and Executive Director of ITERATA, a non-profit institute for the study of interdisciplinarity in science, industry, and higher education. He is author of How History Matters to Philosophy (2015), Comte After Positivism (2002), and numerous papers on 19th and 20th century positivism, postpositivism, and continental philosophy; co-editor (with Val Dusek) of The Philosophy of Technology (2003, 2014); and former editor of Continental Philosophy Review (1994-2005).
Content
Introduction: Comte for a post-positivist world; Part I. Comte Then: 1. Mill versus Comte on 'interior observation'; 2. Mill versus Comte as positivist philosophers of science; 3. Comte's three-stage law; Part II. Comte Now: 4. Comte's ambiguous legacy: science defended or already justified?; 5. Cartesian ahistoricism and later epistemic analysis; 6. Comte and the very idea of a post-positivist philosophy; 7. Comte for tomorrow?