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
4 - Comte's Growing Independence, 1819–1821
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
I will be careful to indicate to you exactly what is my work and what is Saint-Simon's.
Comte to Valat, 1820COMTE'S FIRST SIGNED ARTICLES: LE CENSEUR EUROPÉEN
In mid-1819 Saint-Simon and his friends were unable to fulfill the requirement of a new law that they deposit “caution money” at the Treasury in case they incurred a fine. Consequently, the government forced Le Politique to close. Comte's work for it must have been well regarded because in June he began to write articles and book reviews for Le Censeur européen, which had replaced Le Censeur and was just beginning its daily publication. Besides being pleased with the pay, Comte was happy to work for a well-respected periodical with strong ties to the Independents.
In the second issue, which appeared on June 16, 1819, Comte contributed an article in which he again called for a less wasteful administration. He condemned the proliferation of useless functionaries since Napoleon's regime because they made the government more expensive and more powerful. The government should be based on the “noble passion of equality,” which had been so “grand” and “pure” in 1789. Comte defined equality as the “horror of privileges,” which entailed the elimination of sinecures and the limitation of state power.
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- Information
- Auguste ComteAn Intellectual Biography, pp. 140 - 191Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1993