Comte

Comte, Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Xavier, founder of Positivism, born 1798, came of a Catholic family. He was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, whence he was expelled in 1817 for heading a complaint against one of the tutors. Shortly afterwards he settled in Paris, earning his living by mathematical teaching. In 1818 he met with St. Simon (q.v.), whose theories he adopted, and whose pupil he became until 1824, when an estrangement took place. In 1825 Comte married, but the union was an unhappy one. A course of lectures on his philosophy, begun in 1826, was interrupted by an attack of insanity which lasted into 1827. His Cours de Philosophie Positive was published in six volumes from 1830-1842, when he held a position in the Ecole Polytechnique. In 1845 he formed an intimacy with Clothilde de Vaux, who seems to have influenced him to a great extent. Comte died in 1857.