225 Years since the Birth of Auguste Comte

Title:: 225 година од рођења Огиста Конт
Date of Issue: 30.01.2023.
Author: Tanja Kuruzovic
Type edition: commemorative
Printing techniques: multicolour offset
Sheet: block
Paper: muflep 100g
Printing House: Blicdruk, Sarajevo

SHEET    CANCELLATION

Motive: Auguste Comte  
Каталошки број: 926
Perforation: 13 3/4
Face value: 7.60 BAM
Quantity: 10 000

Auguste Comte was a French mathematician, philosopher, thinker. He believed that laws should be discovered in society, as scientists do. The science that would deal with the discovery of those laws is precisely sociology, whose name he coined. He believed that, if the laws in society are discovered, social reorganization can occur, given that society was in crisis during the period when sociology was founded. So, according to Auguste Comte's opinion, sociology should use scientific methods like physics and chemistry do, and he talks about the importance of positivism, which advocates dealing with facts, which are known from experience and can be observed.

In his most famous work, "Course of Positive Philosophy", he spoke about the law of three stages of development of the human spirit. According to this law, society and the spirit pass through the theological, metaphysical and positive, that is, scientific phases. In the first phase, human consciousness is theologically shaped and it is believed that our position is influenced by God's will. In the next phase, the metaphysical one, deities no longer have power, but thoughts, while in the third phase scientific activity is dominant and represents the highest level of social development. Through each of these stages, people understood the world around them in a certain way, however, in the last stage, it is possible to respond to social problems. This is exactly why he calls sociology a positive science. His explanation of positivist philosophy introduced a significant relationship between theory, practice and human understanding of the world. Comte says: "It is true that every theory must be based on observed facts. It is equally true that it cannot be observed without the guidance of some theory. Without such guidance, our facts would be fruitless. We could not retain them. Most of them would not even notice."

He coined the new coin "altruism" which referred to the moral obligation of individuals to serve others and to put their interests above their own. He opposed the idea of individual rights, considering them inconsistent with ethical obligations. Comte's emphasis on a quantitative, mathematical basis for decision-making remains to this day.

Author: Tanja Kuruzovic

Publisher: Poste Srpske ad Banjaluka