Pierre Laffitte (21 February 1823 – 4 January 1903) was a French positivist philosopher. Laffitte was born at Béguey,

Gironde Gironde ( US usually, , ; oc, Gironda, ) is the largest department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,62 ...

. Residing at Paris as a teacher of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, he became a disciple of

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

, who appointed him his literary executor. On the schism of the Positivist body which followed Comte's death, he was recognized as head of the section which accepted the full Comtian doctrine; the other section adhered to

Émile Littré Émile Maximilien Paul Littré (; 1 February 18012 June 1881) was a French lexicographer, freemason and philosopher, best known for his ''Dictionnaire de la langue française'', commonly called . Biography Littré was born in Paris. His father, ...

, who rejected the

religion of humanity Religion of Humanity (from French ''Religion de l'Humanité'' or '' église positiviste'') is a secular religion created by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Huma ...

as inconsistent with the

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

of Comte's earlier period. From 1853 Laffitte delivered Positivist lectures in the room formerly occupied by Comte in the rue Monsieur le Prince. He published ''Les Grands Types de l'humanité'' (1875) and ''Cours de philosophie première'' (1889). In 1893 he was appointed to the new chair founded at the

Collège de France The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment (''grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris ne ...

for the exposition of the general

history of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Meso ...

, and it was largely due to his inspiration that a statue to Comte was erected in the Place de la

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in 1902. Laffitte died in Paris. Lafitte with a delegation of positivists visited Constantinople in 1877 visited Midhat Pasha to advocate positivist principles as a non-Christian, modern system.

References

* *M. S. Ozervarli: ''Positivism in the Late Ottoman Empire, The Young Turks as Mediators'', Johannes Feichtinger et al,: ''The Worlds of Positivism: a Global Intellectual History, 1770-1930'' Palgrave MacMillan, 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Laffitte, Pierre 1823 births 1903 deaths People from Gironde 19th-century French philosophers 19th-century French historians Collège de France faculty Comtism Members of the Ligue de la patrie française Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery