Saint Simon and Comte

Saint-Simon envisaged a brand-new, beneficial restructuring of society, headed by industrialists, with scientists assuming the place of priests. In this society, peace would be guaranteed by universal association, and the goal would be to develop things that are beneficial to humanity. The rise of sociology and economics as scientific disciplines was inspired by Saint Simon’s quest for a “science of society.” Likewise, French and European society was inspired by his worldview throughout the nineteenth century. 

Henri de Saint Simon and Auguste Comte had a meeting in August 1817, and Simon afterward hired Comte to take Augustin Thierry’s position as his secretary.

Saint-Simon was born into an aristocracy but considered himself a socialist utopian. Comte and Saint-Simon became close friends, and Saint-Simon encouraged Comte’s interest in economics. During this time, Auguste Comte developed the broad outline of a study of society that he called sociology.

The political reorganization of human society was Auguste Comte’s goal. He asserts that any restructuring will be contingent upon society’s spiritual and moral cohesion. Thus, he created numerous important concepts with Saint-Simon. However, their relationship was short-lived, and they eventually came into conflict.

Saint-Simon envisioned a society where everyone had an equal opportunity to benefit from resources and opportunities. He thought that reorganizing economic output was the most incredible way to address the issues in his community. The class of property owners would be deprived of their means of production; as a result, losing their economic freedom—an essential virtue in his time.

The clergy, the nobility, and the ordinary people made up the three estates that made up feudal French society. The first two estates held most of the land, money, and rank. Saint-Simon sought to reorganize this social and economic system.

Saint-Simon and Comte discussed the law of 3 stages, which stipulates that every area of knowledge must pass through, in their collaborative work “Plan of the Scientific Operations Necessary for the Reorganization of Society,” published in 1822. They claimed that the goal of social physics—the positive science of society that was subsequently given the term “sociology”—is to identify the fundamental, unchanging laws of progress.