Comtism in Britain

Abstract After a brief presentation of Auguste Comte’s positivism, this chapter gives an account of its reception into British philosophy. The chapter first considers Mill’s debt to Comte, focussing in some detail on the ‘Logic of the Moral Sciences’ section of his System of Logic. It next explores their divergences, respecting the importance of psychology, liberalism, and the place of women in society. The last two cases are explored by considering Mill’s On Liberty and his Subjection of Women, respectively, both co-authored with Harriet Taylor. The chapter continues by looking at the role played by G. H. Lewes, Harriet Martineau, Richard Congreve, Frederic Harrison, and George Eliot in introducing Comte’s ideas into Britain, before closing with a consideration of Herbert Spencer’s sociology, drawing out both its debts to and its differences from Comte’s positivism.