This article discusses several aspects of August Comte's political theory pertaining to his Static Sociology, as components of what could be denominated his theory of the State. Thus, after demonstrating some of the founder of positivism's theoretical and methodological premises, the article concentrates on an exposition of his theories of fatherlands and of temporal power. Insofar as the fatherland constitutes the physical base of political organization, resulting from the joining together of families within which class relations spring, temporal power is the governing function itself, whose sphere of action is the material order of society. Spiritual power serves as a complement to temporal power, responsible for the moral and intellectual order of society, and includes the fiscalization and legitimation of its counterpart.
Auguste Comte; positivism; political theory; fatherlands; temporal power; spiritual power