Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Early Years
- 2 The Life and Works of Saint-Simon up to 1817
- 3 Comte's First Works for Saint-Simon
- 4 Comte's Growing Independence, 1819–1821
- 5 The Fundamental Opuscule and Comte's Rupture with Saint-Simon
- 6 The Aftermath of the Rupture: The Search for Connections
- 7 Comte's Efforts to Establish Himself
- 8 Intellectual and Mental Crises
- 9 The Road to Recovery, 1828–1830
- 10 Years of Success and Confrontation, 1830–1838
- 11 Comte's Changing Psyche and Aberrant Behavior, 1838–1840
- 12 The Encounter between Two Luminaries: Comte and Mill
- 13 1842: A Turning Point
- 14 Cours de philosophie positive: Positivism and the Natural Sciences
- 15 Cours de philosophie positive: Sociology
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
10 - Years of Success and Confrontation, 1830–1838
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 The Early Years
- 2 The Life and Works of Saint-Simon up to 1817
- 3 Comte's First Works for Saint-Simon
- 4 Comte's Growing Independence, 1819–1821
- 5 The Fundamental Opuscule and Comte's Rupture with Saint-Simon
- 6 The Aftermath of the Rupture: The Search for Connections
- 7 Comte's Efforts to Establish Himself
- 8 Intellectual and Mental Crises
- 9 The Road to Recovery, 1828–1830
- 10 Years of Success and Confrontation, 1830–1838
- 11 Comte's Changing Psyche and Aberrant Behavior, 1838–1840
- 12 The Encounter between Two Luminaries: Comte and Mill
- 13 1842: A Turning Point
- 14 Cours de philosophie positive: Positivism and the Natural Sciences
- 15 Cours de philosophie positive: Sociology
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Ever since [your separation from Saint-Simon], tell me, have you been happy? … There is no joy for the isolated man; there is for him only hatred and bitterness. … Everything is hollow to him; the universe is an immense emptiness. To fill it, he vainly inflates his personality; the pride with which he fills himself oppresses and suffocates him. An acrid disdain blends into his words and runs under his pen. … Because he separates himself from everyone, he believes that everyone rejects him, that everyone is his enemy. Your enemy, Sir, we [the Saint-Simonians] are not, and we would like to be your friends because we know that there is in you a power to do great things for the progress of humanity.
Michel Chevalier to Comte, 1832PUBLICATION OF THE COURS DE PHILOSOPHIE POSITIVE
At the end of 1829, Comte decided he needed to expand his ideas and spread them more effectively. On December 16, 1829, less than two weeks after beginning his course at the Athénée, he made an agreement with Rouen frères to publish the original seventy-two lessons. (Rouen frères put out the Journal des sciences et institutions médicales.) According to the contract, two lessons would appear each week in the form of a cahier, when bound together, the cahiers were to constitute four volumes.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Auguste ComteAn Intellectual Biography, pp. 429 - 476Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993