COMTE, AUGUSTE

in full Isidore-auguste-marie-franois-xavier Comte born Jan. 19, 1798, Montpellier, France died Sept. 5, 1857, Paris French philosopher known as the founder of sociology and of positivism. Comte gave the science of sociology its name and established the new subject in a systematic fashion. Additional reading An excellent short biography in English is F.J. Gould, Auguste Comte (1920). A modern treatment is Mary Pickering, Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography (1993 ). Arline Reilein Standley, Auguste Comte (1981), is a clear survey of his life and works. Appraisals of his work include Ronald Fletcher, Auguste Comte and the Making of Sociology (1966), a brief work; Ernest Becker, The Structure of Evil (1968, reissued 1976); and Kenneth Thompson (ed.), Auguste Comte: The Foundation of Sociology (1975).