Comte's appeal in 1822 for a new science of society. Three objectives: (a) a diagnosis of contemporary European Society; (b) elevation of politics to the rank of a science of observation; (c) realization of a physique sociale. Three clues to the failure of comte's project to initiate a decisive movement in the united States: (a) it was essentially pre-evolutionary; (b) it was excessively abstract rather than human; (c) positivism and connotations for American minds which excluded judicial consideration.