Books like Comte

Loved Comte by Auguste Comte? Here are 8 books with the same pull, and why each one fits.

About Comte →

8 books

Show only

1Auguste Comte and Positivism
Auguste Comte and Positivism
John Stuart Mill
Mill's 1865 essay is a contemporary critical account of Comte's positivism by a thinker who admired parts of it.
Buy on Amazon
2The Rules of Sociological Method
The Rules of Sociological Method
Émile Durkheim
Durkheim builds on Comte's idea of a science of society and sets out how it should study social facts.
Buy on Amazon
3The Poverty of Historicism
The Poverty of Historicism
Karl Popper
Popper criticises attempts to find laws of historical development, the kind of claim Comte's law of three stages makes.
Buy on Amazon
4Main Currents in Sociological Thought
Main Currents in Sociological Thought
Raymond Aron
Aron places Comte alongside Marx, Durkheim and Weber in a clear account of how sociology developed.
Buy on Amazon
5The Sociological Tradition
The Sociological Tradition
Robert A. Nisbet
Nisbet traces the ideas behind sociology, including the positivist program that Comte set out.
Buy on Amazon
6The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Thomas S. Kuhn
Kuhn's account of how scientific knowledge changes gives a later view of the scientific progress Comte described.
Buy on Amazon
7Words and Things
Words and Things
Ernest Gellner
Gellner examines the claims of philosophy and social science against the background of positivist ideas.
Buy on Amazon
8A History of Western Philosophy
A History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Russell's survey covers the empiricist and positivist traditions that shaped Comte's thinking.
Buy on Amazon

Want picks just for you? Tell us books you love.

Wrote a book on this list? Claim your author page

More book lists