Stuart Jones is Professor of Intellectual History at the University of Manchester. He has written widely on British and French intellectual history and political thought, chiefly of the nineteenth century. His books include The French State in Question (Cambridge, 1993), Victorian Political Thought (2000), and Intellect and Character in Victorian England: Mark Pattison and the Invention of the Don (Cambridge, 2007). He also edited Comte's Early Political Writings for the Cambridge Texts in Political Thought series (Cambridge, 1998). He is currently Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford (2008–9).

• Introduction; Notes on text and translation; Chronology; Biographical notes; Bibliographical note; 1. General separation between opinions and desires; 2. Summary appraisal of the general character of modern history; 3. Plan of the scientific work necessary for the reorganization of society; 4. Philosophical considerations on the sciences and scientists; 5. Considerations of the spiritual power; 6. Examination of Broussais's Treatise on Irritation.

'Stuart Jones has done us a service by making these texts readily available once again. he has had the courage and the tenacity to produce an excellent new English version of Comte's text. History of Political Thought