Comte and the Origins of Sociology

[@cheri238]

I am now going back through all of Professor Sugrue lectures again. I hope no one stops listening to the genius of his scholarship. 🙏❤️🌎🌿🕊🎵🎶🎵

[@jdzentrist8711]

Comte's name came up in Sociology 101 over half a century ago at junior college. I don't have a single book by him. At university, his name continued to come up, as part of the problem. He was never for me a real person of flesh and blood, until this lecture. Alas, I recognize a lot of myself in him, except for the obvious differences, including very limited mathematics. Now back to the lecture...

[@kehindeonakunle8856]

Professor Michael Sugrue is an anointed professional intellectual, worth listening to.

[@wanderingbiku451]

What marvelous delivery and knowledge. Finding a lecturer who can teach philosophy with clarity and without deviation is so rare. I look forward to your other talks

[@landryprichard6778]

Stunning. Your ability to just translate it all and with no stuttering, stammering or pauses is incredibly rare. 💝

[@cheri238]

Wasn't Dr. Sugre amazing?

[@NodakBro]

Commenting here to say thanks to Dr. Sugrue for this and the many other lectures. I wish I’d learn all this in my teens and twenties but I’m grateful I can get into it now. This is what a great and soul-shaping education really should look like!

[@deadlevelled2870]

Thank you for this tremendous amount of work. The amount of processing power people have spent trying to reach the summit of mind is really inspiring.

[@nightoftheworld]

46:03 “I think all technocratic tendencies in modern politics owe something to Comte. In other words he was right in saying that _to a great extent political decisions are at least partially technical._ If you think about something like the Federal Reserve board-we have a special group of economists there that decide things like how much money gets printed or what the interest rates are because of the fact that you and I have no idea what to do with that. I don’t understand the equations, neither do you, there’s no point in having me vote on these things because I don’t understand them and neither do you-you can only leave it to the technicians and hope they do a good job. Because of the proliferation of knowledge in the modern world it’s not possible for any of us to know all the things we’d have to know to make an informed decision. The consequence of that is that positivism in the form of technocracy is at least a live option in the 20th century-the problem is how they will find a normative basis for that.”

[@daithiocinnsealach1982]

Thus we will always have the plebs with us. The magical thinkers. The ignorant masses who just want food and shelter and a little comfort along the way. We need experts but we need systems of checks and balances so no one person or group takes too much control. Seems were doing somewhat of an ok job with that at the moment, despite the individual suffering of so many millions around the world.

[@tmpbruce]

The ending of the lecture stuck with me most, thanks for posting this mate

[@cheri238]

Noice

[@ArtMoran]

Between you Professor Sugrue and a few other brilliant teachers, I am bridging both my philosophy and my framework for writing to recipients who share specific core values/beliefs... Amazing, nobody in my current life finds any of this interesting, I cannot help to feel I am privileged for getting these ivy league college philosophy lessons!!!

[@tracywilliamsliterature]

in my notepad of things to do, literally an hour ago, I wrote "who is Comte?" --- Ask and you shall receive, right?

[@nightoftheworld]

“The Naked Reading: In recognition of the rare combination of courage and vulnerability required to write a book and offered for the intimate pleasure of reading aloud” Cool experiment. Have some of the disturbing responses been about _prostituting_ for views?

[@tracywilliamsliterature]

@@nightoftheworld Hi Night of the World... Great question but no the responses I got involved 2 men actually showing up at my house in 2010... before I had half a clue about how KZbin and anonymity might work... Then there were some very vicious verbal attacks from a few "feminists"... I removed the reading from KZbin ages ago but KZbin later disabled my channel so this is a new, more restrained channel... the reading is now via password only... nudity is not necessarily porn or prostitution says I these days... of course I still get misinterpreted but I am older, wiser and tougher now...

[@nightoftheworld]

The Original Naked Blonde Writer good for you, KZbin can be toxic.. glad you came out ok

[@tracywilliamsliterature]

@@nightoftheworld thank you kindly...

[@khester7397]

Next for your notepad: What is synchronicity?

[@joelthomastr]

45:11 "If you scratch the first layer of varnish off a pragmatist what you'll find is a positivist with a broken heart" 😂 so hilarious, so true

[@firstal3799]

Only that it isn't true

[@vanceed5486]

@@firstal3799 can you elaborate on this?

[@nanashi7779]

@@vanceed5486 Nothing to elaborate on, he's just voicing his support for the original comment

[@temitope6830]

Thank you for another great video Dr Sugrue

[@meizhou2275]

listening to his lecture is a pure pleasure

[@91iamlegend]

Another marvelous lecture, thank you doctore!

[@SimonJHeath]

thank you Dr. Michael Sugrue

[@faysal8597]

It’s incredible how well Micheal can de-construct t.o.e for layman .. he has mastered teaching

[@dargosian]

"Nearer My Physics To Thee" -- laughing my head off, thanks Dr. Sugrue!

[@richman360]

The man has a way with words.

[@cheri238]

💯 correct

[@PaperCut2UGaming]

These videos have been great for my soul

[@kaboomboom5967]

WOW COMTE AND SOCIOLOGY MY MAJOR IN UNIVEERSITY ♥️

[@100videos4you]

This is a wonderful lecture I have learned a lot and it was delivered very well

[@LouiseRenee]

Gosh, I love Dr. Sugrue's one-liner jokes. If you catch them, they are actually hilarious. I love this man and his extensive knowledge!

[@optimusprimum]

“Positivist with a broken heart.” *insert degradation of ego* You’re swinging for the fences bro... I wasn’t prepared for this.

[@PiperDowns]

This is an amazing speaker as well as an amazing thinker

[@Buddy-cv3qx]

16:20 That sense of "magic" reminds of Years' early and occult ideas. It's easily taken as the sign of a larger pantheism, even as "myth" involves symbolism in the same domain. Yeats' magic operated more locally than Comte's myths in the sense that the "three stages of history" might be taken hypothetically in a reverse order to see how the major and minor premises are also implied by any abductive inference about the "population" in Sociology's subject of Science. Its evolution into the idea of Byzantium for Yeats is instructive. Leda and the Swan is the subject of that lesson in British Literature.

[@luukzwart115]

30:46) Bridging the is-ought gap with epistemology and politics: The spectrum of progress defines ethics. - The species is the primary entity - Immortality is attained by living forth in the minds of the species

[@NothingHumanisAlientoMe]

"Verdi's requim is all over the place, there is too much of everything" I shall check him out, sounds like the Hendrix of his time. Nice one MS : )

[@anassheashaey]

That analogy of Verdi and Mozart was so cool I just can't find words to describe it.

[@escuelaflo]

Mozart was actually neither protestant nor northern German but it sure sounds cool if you don't think about it too much.

[@cheri238]

RIGHT ✅️

[@johncracker5217]

What a great teacher RIP

[@shiangjeoushyu8586]

I enjoyed this lecture tremendously! Thank you much for this piece of fine work in life.

[@richman360]

I identify with Comte because I went to Uni and flunked out due to my OCD. i want to go back and think I can after therapy.

[@presenceof]

Beautiful stuff

[@overlex]

All this time I thought the title had a typo and he meant KANT! I’ve never heard of Auguste Comte until now! Gonna read more of him ❤

[@kevinrombouts3027]

Another enjoyable lecture. Interesting admittance - we seem to need to worship. Pragmatists have no coherent moral theory.

[@fucyu3528]

lore never ceases to delude

[@johnszabo9981]

Listened to Verdi's Requium.

[@SorryPlayAgain]

Such great content, thank you

[@ttacking_you]

Talk of Fourierism reminds me of Whit Stillman's 'METROPOLITAN'

[@Garblegox]

I know a couple sociology majors. They always came off as messianic and positivistic. Like my behavior and feelings are calculable like the orbit of the planets.

[@BenJehovah6969]

Manipulating your behavior is calculable and predictive.

[@pearz420]

They never get out much.

[@3uphoric]

Great orator

[@sapientum8]

excellent content

[@LostMerkaba]

Loved this, thanks.

[@kevinc721]

What’s the song playing at the beginning?

[@meizhou2275]

wondering where the lecture was filmed? some intellectual Solon at a private home? or some bookstore? doesn't look like university classroom

[@shakshiagrawal1375]

it's a set for a show

[@aaronknauer4642]

I hope you all appreciate this mama comic timing and emphasis

[@Vgallo]

I wish this was available in podcast form

[@daithiocinnsealach1982]

If you have KZbin plus you can listen with the screen turned off. I couldn't live without premium at this stage. I pay for my Spotify but I watch way more KZbin. Can't stand the ads.

[@cheri238]

KZbin Premium, it is a must for me.

[@grekerbeer948]

Great lecture, Dr Surgrrggue

[@TheSpecialreport]

Amazing professor 👏 👌

[@lokaldenker]

This channel is really great. Can someone tell in what dates approximately are the videos taken?

[@dr.michaelsugrue]

1992-3

[@cheri238]

❤

[@oscarpaez123]

Professor Sugrue mentioned that Comte had influence in Brazil and he mentioned “order and progress.” Is Comte’s influence involved in the Brazilian flag having “ordem e progresso” on it? (Haha I should have waited to the end where he mentions that)

[@dr.michaelsugrue]

Yes

[@oscarpaez123]

@@dr.michaelsugrue Hey what’s up Professor Michael, I didn’t expect you to answer. I really enjoy your lectures and podcasts. I read The Sorrows of Young Werther after one of your lectures and oh boy, I have never read something like that before.

[@cheri238]

Professor Michael Sugrue had the mental ability to wrap his greatness at the end of every lecture. He was just that amazing 👏

[@timeWaster76]

What drove Comte crazy was people did not get his irony.

[@michaelirwin1887]

This professor is amazing and his life and death bio is nowhere to be found in my multiple searches on the internet. Can somebody point me to the right link? Thank you in advance.

[@thalibrafraudster7795]

He lives! This is his official youtube channel

[@TheCrazyKid9800]

Love this guy. Has he done any lectures on Hobbes, Plato's Gorgias, or John Locke?

[@nickdemedal4295]

Professor Sugrue does have a lecture on the Gorgias. It is from the series Plato, Socrates, and the Dialogues. It is an excellent lecture and hopefully, with a little luck, he’ll upload it soon.

[@jphanson]

Check out his channel again, he has new lectures on both Hobbes and Locke

[@JamieEHILLS]

Hi Professor, I was wondering, in your journey studying philosophy, did you ever lecture on any thinkers or mystics from the Eastern tradition? If so, I would absolutely love to listen to you speak on them. Thank you for sharing all of these videos, and I pray more people come to learn of you and from you.

[@Matthew-ux7pj]

Unlikely, Great Books program os focused on the history of western thought.

[@daithiocinnsealach1982]

@@Matthew-ux7pj Mostly, but not exclusively. But it is a shame how little we here in the West know of the great cultures of the East. Confusius and Loazi and their later schools are on the same level of any of our great social, philosophical and metaphysical thinkers here in the West.

[@maurice5402]

Professor, could you upload the one about the socratic dialogues?

[@foodchewer]

At first glance I find Comte's conception of a positivistic study of history that leads ever onward into positivistic progress to be noxious, arrogant, and self-contradictory. How is the claim that history has distinct, progressive stages and that the positive stage is the highest NOT a metaphysical claim in itself? This really supposes a lot about the processes of history and the forces that may or may not be guiding it. This kind of thinking continues to haunt the world well into the 21st century and, I think, has been one of the rotten fruit of modern thought. I think of the New Atheists and the kind of insipid thought and rhetoric they inspired as an example of this continuing influence. You just can't extrapolate that much with positive, scientific claims, and I think it's past time that we stop considering the role of religion in the lives of our ancestors and "pre-modern" (a term which in itself implies modernity as we define it as a kind of universal stage) peoples everywhere as a stultifying force that is mainly born of superstition. I fear the only way that'll happen though is if our positive sciences keep showing up data that confirm the shortcomings of these very methods of inquiry over and over.

[@zxsw85]

God bless this man

[@blairhakamies4132]

Fabulous 🌹

[@daithiocinnsealach1982]

When you brought up the idea of technocentrism near the end of the lecture my mind went immediately to Ted Kaczynski's _Industrial Society and Its Future_ . Have you read it? Would love to hear your thoughts on it if you have. You mention that pragmatists have nothing intelligent to say regarding morals and that that can be seen as a virtue or a vacuum and that you prefer the latter. So what is your own opinion on it Dr. Sugrue? Do you believe in some absolute Ground or Foundation upon which we can lay our beliefs on in order to build the kind of society we think should exist? It seems to me that everyone who has tried that has ultimately failed. Kant being a great example. But also Plato. Also every religion ever. It can be frightening to embrace cold hard reality. To admit that all is chaos and that we are lone animals on a spinning speck of dust whizzing through endless space around a flickering light that is soon to consume us before extinguishing itself, and that all our efforts are ultimately doomed, pointless and self defeating.

[@bg-se7rq]

Sociology …such an achievement. Woulda been difficult to argue back then. Severe invalidation esp in his own country. I can see why Compe grew depressed ..poor guy

[@grandfathernebulous]

Oh, Mr Comte. If only it was that simple.

[@ambassadorkwan8182]

Sir, please consider archiving this knowledge in parallel for posterity. LBRY for example.

[@pearz420]

I gotta say: being born into a world that pretended to know exactly how my life was supposed to play out... not a fan. I'm all wound-up like a clockwork orange. Comte fished pretty deep on that ocean of mind, but failed Temptation #3.

[@grapeshott]

Comte was perfectly sane when he started his Religion of Humanity. If he is insane, then all religious leaders are too. Many religious leaders today also combine rationality with religion.

[@user-gs1lz2pw9v]

Just because people do it doesn't make it right. Doesn't make it wrong either. Just a bad argument

[@Diplomastronaut]

I like how half of this lecture is just roasting Comte’s mental condition

[@Adam-yo3bt]

This guy knows his way around a deli

[@christinemartin63]

"Oh, that a man's reach should exceed his grasp." Little wonder he went mad, but, hey, that's a mighty fine goal to have--if you have a couple of lifetimes in your future 😯😉.

[@onlyonetoserve9586]

Tankyo for lern me ting

[@arbenitzekaj6641]

Could anyone tell me, when can I find Socratis Dialog: Gorgias ?

[@TremendousSax]

Google

[@laurentbourdon5053]

I was going to watch it, and I got sea sick after about 30 seconds.

[@manicmandownup]

Come on…Comte’s calendar isn’t much different than what exists already. He’s not recalculating concepts of time or anything. Moses as a month is strange, but not July? Clearly one card short, but not in this instance.

[@Vgallo]

You don’t really explain his influence on the social sciences, besides a kind of methodology.

[@cristig243]

Yuval Noah Harrari's spiritual grandfather .

[@firstal3799]

Wow Hinduism is polythiestic and monotheism is contribution of Judeo Chrostian thought? Hinduism argues for oneness of all universe. Not just God.

[@nanashi7779]

I struggle to make sense of Hinduism

[@optimusprimum]

Industrialization exposed man to a truer way of thinking. My opinion.

[@optimusprimum]

“Tragic nobility.” Man. That’s a gut punch.

[@nanashi7779]

Truer?

[@joejohnson6327]

But Mozart wasn't Protestant.

[@margaretmanfredo8410]

Immanuel Kant was German philosopher. Right.

[@Dimebag91]

@ Margaret Manfredo Prof. Sugrue is talking about Auguste Comte, it sounds like Kant when Prof. pronounces the name Comte.

[@dylanvoisard]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/ml7ZlHyqjt2Ab7c

[@swapnilprasad6136]

Why did I get recommended this??

[@GreyEyedAthena]

Really feel like nothing was really said here

[@lechad8686]

You must have horrible comprehension.

[@foodchewer]

Why do you feel that way?

[@drbonesshow1]

Comte enjoyed comtefort food before and especially after his insanity.

[@xxxYouTunesxxx]

Jeff Goldblum

[@DanWilan]

So he was some kinda Don Quixote

[@margaretmanfredo8410]

OOOOPS !!

[@nightoftheworld]

45:20 “And if you want to find the Achilles heel of these pragmatists you go to their moral theory because they don’t have anything intelligent to say.” What does he mean that they don’t have solid moral grounding? In the sense that their theories lack a directional dogma/charge?

[@TheCrazyKid9800]

I think the idea might be that pragmatists are able to tell you how to achieve a particular end but that they can't tell you which particular end to seek or why you ought to seek it. A pragmatist might be able to tell you how to increase an economy's GDP but cannot give you a fundamental reason why. (of course, you'd have to keep asking 'why?' to highlight to a pragmatist that they don't have a fundamental action guiding moral philosophy). An immediate response to that might be that a fundamental framework/system for how to act (in other words, what a political community ought to strive for) is simply not possible. Hope this helped.

[@nightoftheworld]

TheCrazyKid9800 so pragmatists affirm what _is_ empirically-but believe in foreclosing the absolute idea of the _ought_ from a realist angle?

[@TheCrazyKid9800]

@@nightoftheworld my best guess is that that's correct.

[@firstal3799]

The great mistake in western intellectual tradition is everyone is trying to go beyond his purview or talents. Always trying to construct an overarching theory. You don't need to do that ! Some wonderful insights and techniques is more useful.

[@davidfost5777]

I'm always looking for new interesting lectures on Psychology/Philosophy, please let me know if you guys have any recommendations, would be highly appreciated

[@FipsMusik]

Rick Rodderick lectures

[@zetetick395]

Comte sounds Bipolar to me, more than anything.

[@Horwellston]

No, not the cheese.

[@EsatBargan]

Jackson Thomas Lewis Kevin Miller Karen

[@johnrainsman6650]

I honestly hate sociology. People are really starting to think that those who share my opinions are shallow and ignorant. For example, I find the term "Double Standard" _really_ offensive. It basically implies that people in my position are biased and lacking depth and wisdom in this world. HeII, it reduces us to superficial idiots who are easily manipulated by society and can't think for themselves. Now those implications are getting to me, whether specifically "double standard" or any other sociology subject. Enough with the labels. It was bad enough when my sister and her boyfriend--who I really don't like or trust by the way--made an offensive "double standard" comment about me to my face.

[@Luke-eo6kp]

Sociology is at the core of most modern division and cultural subversion.