The French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857) is generally acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of sociology, and one of the most influential "grand theorists" of the nineteenth century. This edition of his early essays from the 1820s is based on a new translation, and aims to make his ideas and the development of his thought accessible to modern readers. A comprehensive introduction establishes the historical significance of Comte's work and shows how his ideas emerged from the rich intellectual turmoil of post-revolutionary France.

In the Victorian period English universities were transformed beyond recognition, and the modern academic profession began to take shape. Mark Pattison was one of the foremost Oxford dons in this crucial period, and articulated a distinctive vision of the academic's vocation frequently at odds with those of his contemporaries. In the first serious study of Pattison as a thinker, Stuart Jones shows his importance in the cultural and intellectual life of the time: as a proponent of the German idea of the university, as a follower of Newman who became an agnostic and a thoroughly secular...

The French State in Question places the idea of the state back at the heart of our understanding of modern French history and political culture, and challenges accepted views of the Third Republic as a "weak" state. At its core is an examination of a central problem in French politics of the belle epoque: Should the employees of the state have the right to unionize, and to strike? The book examines this as a problem of intellectual history: it seeks to explain why this was such an intractable question, and does so by demonstrating the importance of legal theory and the idea of the state in...

The idea of the centralized State has played a powerful role in shaping French republicanism. But for two hundred years, many have tried to find other ways of being French and Republican. These essays challenge the traditional account, bringing together new insights from leading scholars.