French philosopher and social scientist AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857) developed the notion of sociology as a field that could be studied, invented the term altruism, and in this groundbreaking work, created a system of principles and ideas-a rational "religion"-that has since come to influence humanism across the Western world. In Volume I, Comte offers an overview of human history as distilled through the "positive" perspective; details the positivism of mathematics, astronomy, biology, physics, and chemistry; and refines the functioning of human consciousness as an aspect of positivism. First published in English in 1853, this is an extraordinary synthesis of thought that is required reading for anyone wishing to understand the development of the scientific, secular mindset of the modern world.