Description
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Catechism Of Positive Religion : Or Summary Exposition Of The Universal Religion In Thirteen Systematic Conversations Between A Woman And A Priest Of Humanity by Auguste Comte , Translated by Richard Congreve
This English edition of The Catechism of Positive Religion was published in 1891, thirty-four years after the death of Comte, the French philosopher of science and politics and founder of positivism, whose work was widely read in the later nineteenth century. Comtes self-published French original of 1852, translated here, outlines his progressive ideal of sociocracy, which would provide a systematic basis, free of metaphysics, for intellectual and moral transactions among humans. Congreves edition, in common with others, divides the book into five parts. The introduction contains two dialogues, entitled General Theory of Religion and Theory of Humanity. Parts 1-3 respectively consider the Positivists private and public worship; doctrine, including the external world and human society and ethics; and regime or way of life, private and public. The final two dialogues cover polytheism, monotheism and theocracy. This book remains of interest as an early precursor of secular humanist ethics.show more