ENLIGHTENMENT AND METAPHYSICS CONCEPTION IN AUGUSTE COMTE

Although the sociological positivism developed by the famous French philosopher and sociologist Auguste Comte (1798-1857), is often associated with the idea of enlightenment and its progress conception, there is also an anti-enlightenment vnessel in Comte's conception of positivism. We will discourse on this vessel we generally believe to be neglected or not understood correctly, and we will examine the subject by associating it with the metaphysical stage in the famous three-state law of Comte. According to Comte, the metaphysical phase is a transitional phase that arises from the inability of the human mind to pass directly from theological to positive thinking. At this stage, the human mind is prepared for positive thinking step by step. The idea of Comte's evolutionist progression, his unshakable confidence in reason and science, and his need to use the method of natural sciences in social sciences is undoubtedly the heritage of enlightenment. His passion for order, however, led the enlightened thinkers to rank as metaphysicians. According to him, the idea of enlightenment, the individual emphasizes, flourishes anarchic principles such as individual freedom, equality, and sovereignty of the people. It was not possible to construct a positive-organic society with this principle. He applauded the traditional thinkers for defending order and consensus, but for the reconstruction of the order, he considered the idea that it was necessary to go back to the feudal-Catholic system of the past, was impossible and funny. Because history was not able to flow backwards. That is why he tried to dissolve the notion of enlightened progress and the notion of traditionalist order in a pot. For this purpose, the positive sciences had to be completed with the science of sociology which he had recently established. Sociology, a positive science, would show the way to progress to the western people without compromising order.

Keywords

Enlightenment, Positivism, Metaphysics, Order, Progress.