Auguste Comte

Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is the founder of sociology and of positivism, a school of philosophy with followers all over the world. In order to disseminate his vision, he created an order which employed media technology that was revolutionary for the time: posters, statues, medals and graphics were all used to spread the positivist world view to the masses. One of his central maxims lives on to this day in the Brazilian flag: ordem e progresso, order and progress. Wolf Lepenies recounts an extraordinary chapter of history that forms the backdrop to today’s media culture.