ABSTRACT
The organism metaphor also configured Comte's social dynamics, providing a model for historical change. In sum, the metaphor of the social organism accomplished five things for Comte. It legitimated a supreme being worthy of deferential attention, suggested a model of human evolution, stimulated a theory of social organization, indicated a methodological principle for social science and supplied normative criteria to evaluate phenomena and guide action. The difference in how they construed the organism for devotional purposes had profound consequences for the ways in which the two philosophers of history represented societal change. The greatest range of uses to which the organism metaphor has been put appears in its service as a vehicle for normative judgments about social conditions. The organism metaphor made three major contributions to the development of sociology. It was a primary vehicle for encouraging social scientists to investigate human social phenomena in a naturalistic manner.
