Auguste Comte and the religion of humanity : the post-theistic program of French social theory / Andrew Wernick.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-274) and index.

Print version record.

Andrew Wernick provides the first in-depth critique of Comte's concept of religion and its place in his thinking on politics, sociology and philosophy of science. Wernick relates Comte to Marx and Nietzsche and examines key features of modern and postmodern French social theory, tracing the inherent flaws of Comte's system.

Cover; Auguste Comte and the Religion of Humanity The Post-Theistic Program of French Social Theory; Title; Copyright; In memory of my father, Abram Joseph Wernick; Contents; Acknowledgments; I Introduction: rethinking Comte; The project of Positive Religion; Comte, Nietzsche, Marx; Comte and the canon; Order of exposition; 2 The system and its logic (1): from positive philosophy to social science; The two Comtes; Positive philosophy and social science; Positivity from Bacon to Comte; Science and truth; Science and non-science; Science and practice

3 The system and its logic (2): from sociology to the subjective synthesisSociology and its object; The transcendence of the social; The subjective synthesis; The logic of the system; 4 Religion and the crisis of industrialism; The troubles of industrialism; The question of religion; The subjective dimension; Ego and solidarity; Continuity and death; 5 Love and the social body; Love and the social tie; Love and the psyche; Love and the other; 6 The path to perfection; The question of violence; Humanity and Nature; Systematic fetishism and I' amour universel; 7 Humanity as 'le vrai Grand-Être'

Faith after 'God'The meaning(s) of 'I'Humanité'; The Collective subject; The divine status of Humanity; From religion to politics; Sociolatry and the death of the social; 8 Socio-theology after Comte; The second death of God; Althusser: Humanism without Humanity; Baudrillard: the end of the social; Nancy: community without communion; Politics, transcendence and the social; References; Primary sources; Secondary sources; Index

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