Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Western Philosophy 4.11.2.2 Comte's Scheme of Sciences Builds to the last and most complex science which, according to the early Comte, is social science.
Social science includes: An ideal of humanity [definitive stage is positive] Antidote to misgovernment is public opinion [he was against representative government] 4.11.2.3 A theory of history Progress to the ideal 4.11.2.4 Ethics Later in his career Comte adds ethics as the seventh and highest science: Feelings and practice paramount Subjective method [A progression in his view over his positivism.] 4.12 MODERN PHILOSOPHY: BRITISH UTILITARIANISM We have seen the origin of utilitarianism in Comte's ideas utilitarianism must share with positivism the idea of a positive calculation: that a positive calculation of utility is possible and meaningful 4.12.1 Jeremy Bentham [1748-1832]: An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789.
The utility principle based on pleasure and pain [sources of pleasure and pain: physical, political, social, religious] The Hedonistic Calculus: a quantitative measure of pleasures and pains is to be used in determining actions. Factors or dimension are: Intensity, 2. Duration, 3. Degree of certainty, 4. Remoteness, 5. Fecundity [chance of being followed by a similar sensation], 6. Purity [opposite of fecundity], 7.
Extent [number of persons affected] Precursor of utility theory, optimization theory as a tool. 4.12.2 John Stuart Mill [1806 1873] Mill threads together empiricism and positivism [Mill's philosophy is significantly positivist even when it is not overtly so]: Later day British Empiricism [this includes Mill] has much in common with positivism [and herein lies the weakness of Mill's method of empirical logic and inductive inference, his law of causation, and rejection of a priori truthsdespite his great prolificacy and practical influence].
Mill's interest in science, like Saint-Simon's and Comte's, is motivated by his interest in social reform 4.12.2.1 The external world and the self Mill holds that we can know only phenomena [though he admits the thing-in-itself]Mill's metaphysics is too limited to hold present interest 4.12.2.2 Mental and moral sciences For social reform Mill calls for a reform of the mental and moral sciences Previous Next