Positivist calendar

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This editable, developed Main Article is subject to a disclaimer.

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The positivist calendar was proposed by Auguste Comte in 1849 as a reform of the Gregorian calendar which would mark the transition to (as he saw it) the new, enlightened era of Positivism.

## Contents

* 1 Structure of the calendar
* 1.1 Months
* 1.2 Weeks
* 1.3 Extra days
* 2 Commemorations
* 3 External links

## Structure of the calendar[edit]

### Months[edit]

The calendar contained 13 months of 28 days each. The French names of Janvier through Décembre were retained from the Gregorian calendar for the first 12 months, with the 13th being named Final.

### Weeks[edit]

The seven-day week was also retained, with the French day-names. Weeks began on Lundi (Monday).

### Extra days[edit]

To bring the total to 365 days, an epagomenal day named Fête gènérale des Morts ("Festival of the Dead") was added after the last day of Final. It was not counted as part of a week, thus allowing every year to start on Lundi. For leap years, assigned the same way as in the Gregorian system, the leap day was added at the end of the year. The leap day was named Fête gènérale des Sainte Femmes ("Festival of Holy Women").

## Commemorations[edit]

Comte proposed that each month honor a particular period of history or area of human achievement, as well as one person who exemplified it. In addition, each day of the month would be dedicated to a major figure in that area, with Dimanche (Sunday) reserved for especially important people. The complete list of commemorations would be:

Month| | Janvier| Février| Mars| Avril| Mai

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Person| | Moses| Homer| Aristotle| Archimedes| Julius Caesar
Theme| | The early theocracy| Ancient poets| Ancient philosophy| Ancient science| Military civilization
Lundi| 1| Prometheus| Hesiod| Anaximander| Theophrastus| Militiades
Mardi| 2| Hercules| Tyrtaeus| Anaximenes| Herophilus| Leonides
Mercredi| 3| Orpheus| Anacreon| Heraclitus| Eristratus| Aristides
Jeudi| 4| Ulysses| Pindar| Anaxagoras| Celsus| Cimon
Vendredi| 5| Lycurgus| Sophocles| Democritus| Galen| Xenophon
Samedi| 6| Romulus| Theocritus| Herodotus| Avicenna| Phocion
Dimanche| 7| Numa| Aeschylus| Thales| Hippocrates| Themistocles
Lundi| 8| Belus| Scopas| Solon| Euclid| Pericles
Mardi| 9| Sesostris| Zeuxis| Xenophanes| Aristarchus| Philip (of Macedon)
Mercredi| 10| Menu| Ictinus| Empodocles| Theodosius of Bithynia| Demosthenes
Jeudi| 11| Cyrus| Praxiteles| Thucydides| Hero| Ptolemy Lagus
Vendredi| 12| Zoroaster| Lysippus| Archytas| Pappus| Philipoemen
Samedi| 13| The Druids| Apelles| Apollonius of Tyrana| Diophantus| Polybus
Dimanche| 14| Buddha| Phidias| Pythagoras| Apollonius| Alexander (the Great)
Lundi| 15| Fo-Hi| Aesop| Aristippus| Eudoxus| Junius Brutus
Mardi| 16| Lao-Tzu| Aristophanes| Antisthenes| Pytheas| Camillus
Mercredi| 17| Meng-Tzu| Terence| Zeno| Aristarchus| Fabricius
Jeudi| 18| The Priests of Tibet| Phaedrus| Cicero| Eratosthenes| Hannibal
Vendredi| 19| The Priests of Japan| Juvenal| Epictetus| Ptolemy| Paulus Aemilius
Samedi| 20| Manco Capac| Lucian| Tacitus| Albategnius| Marius
Dimanche| 21| Confucius| Plautus| Socrates| Hipparchus| Scipio
Lundi| 22| Abraham| Ennius| Xenocrates| Varro| Augustus
Mardi| 23| Joseph| Lucretius| Philo of Alexandria| Columella| Vespasian
Mercredi| 24| Samuel| Horace| St. John the Evangelist| Vitruvius| Adrian
Jeudi| 25| Solomon| Tibullus| St. Justin| Strabo| Antony
Vendredi| 26| Isaac| Ovid| St. Clement of Alexandria| Frontinus| Papinian
Samedi| 27| St. John the Baptist| Lucan| Origen| Plutarch| Alexander Severus
Dimanche| 28| Muhammad| Virgil| Plato| Pliny the Elder| Trajan
Month| | Juin| Juillet| Aout| Septembre

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Person| | St. Paul| Charlemagne| Dante| Gutenberg
Theme| | Catholicism| Feudal civilization| Modern epics| Modern industry
Lundi| 1| St. Luke| Theodoric the Great| The Troubadours| Marco Polo
Mardi| 2| St. Cyprian| Pelayo| Bocaccio| Jacques Coeur
Mercredi| 3| St. Athanasius| Otho the Great| Cervantes| da Gama
Jeudi| 4| St. Jerome| St. Henry| Rabelais| Napier
Vendredi| 5| St. Ambrose| Villiers| La Fontaine| Lacaille
Samedi| 6| St. Monica| Don Juan de Austria| de Foe| Cook
Dimanche| 7| St. Augustine| Alfred (the Great)| Ariosto| Columbus
Lundi| 8| Constantine| Charles Martel| Leonardo da Vinci| Benvenuto Cellini
Mardi| 9| Theodosius| El Cid| Michelangelo| Amontons
Mercredi| 10| St. Chrysostom| Richard I| Holbein| Harrison
Jeudi| 11| St. Pulcheria| Joan of Arc| Poussin| Dolland
Vendredi| 12| St. Genevieve of Paris| Albuquerque| Murillo| Arkwright
Samedi| 13| St. Gregory the Great| Bayard| Teniers| Conté
Dimanche| 14| Hildebrand| Godfrey| Raphael| Vaucanson
Lundi| 15| St. Benedict| St. Leo the Great| Froissart| Stevin
Mardi| 16| St. Boniface| Gerbert| Camões| Mariotte
Mercredi| 17| St. Isidore of Seville| Peter the Hermit| The Spanish Romantics| Papin
Jeudi| 18| St. Lanfranc| Suger| Chateaubriand| Black
Vendredi| 19| St. Heloise| Alexander III| Sir Walter Scott| Jouffroy
Samedi| 20| The Architects of the Middle Ages| St. Francis of Assisi| Manzoni| Dalton
Dimanche| 21| St. Bernard| Innocent III| Tasse| Watt
Lundi| 22| St. Francis Xavier| St. Clothilda| Petrarch| Bernard de Palissy
Mardi| 23| St. Charles Borromeo| St. Bathilde| Thomas à Kempis| Guglielmini
Mercredi| 24| St. Theresa| St. Stephen of Hungary| Madame de Lafayette| Duhamel
Jeudi| 25| St. Vincent de Paul| St. Elizabeth of Hungary| Fénelon| Saussure
Vendredi| 26| Bordalue| Blanche of Castille| Klopstock| Coulomb
Samedi| 27| William Penn| St. Ferdinand III| Byron| Carnot
Dimanche| 28| Bossuet| St. Louis| Milton| Montgolfier
Month| | Octobre| Novembre| Décembre| Final

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Person| | Shakespeare| Descartes| Frederick II| Bichat
Theme| | Modern drama| Modern philosophy| Modern politics| Modern science
Lundi| 1| Lope de Vega| Albert the Great| Marie de Molina| Copernicus
Mardi| 2| Moreto| Roger Bacon| Cosimo de Medici| Kepler
Mercredi| 3| Rojas| St. Bonaventure| Philippe de Comines| Huygens
Jeudi| 4| Otway| Ramus| Isabella of Castille| Jacques Bernoulli
Vendredi| 5| Lessing| Montaigne| Charles V| Bradley
Samedi| 6| Goëthe| Campanella| Henry IV| Volta
Dimanche| 7| Calderón| Thomas Aquinas| Louis XI| Galileo
Lundi| 8| Tirso| Thomas Hobbes| Coligny| Viète
Mardi| 9| Vondel| Pascal| Barneveldt| Wallis
Mercredi| 10| Racine| Locke| Gustavus Adolphus| Clairaut
Jeudi| 11| Voltaire| Vauvernargues| de Witt| Euler
Vendredi| 12| Alfieri| Diderot| Ruyter| D'Alembert
Samedi| 13| Schiller| Cabanis| William III| Lagrange
Dimanche| 14| Corneille| Bacon| William the Silent| Newton
Lundi| 15| Alarcón| Grotius| Ximénez| Bergmann
Mardi| 16| Madame de Motteville| Fontenelle| Sully| Priestley
Mercredi| 17| Madame de Sévigné| Vico| Colbert| Cavendish
Jeudi| 18| Lesage| Fréret| Walpole| Guyton Morveau
Vendredi| 19| Madame de Staal| Montesquieu| D'Aranda| Berthollet
Samedi| 20| Fielding| Buffon| Turgot| Berzelius
Dimanche| 21| Molière| Leibnitz| Richelieu| Lavoisier
Lundi| 22| Pergolesi| Adam Smith| Sidney| Harvey
Mardi| 23| Sacchini| Kant| Franklin| Boerhaave
Mercredi| 24| Gluck| Condorcet| Washington| Linnaeus
Jeudi| 25| Beethoven| Fichte| Jefferson| Haller
Vendredi| 26| Rossini| Joseph de Maistre| Bolívar| Lamarck
Samedi| 27| Bellini| Hegel| Francia| Broussais
Dimanche| 28| Mozart| Hume| Cromwell| Gall

## External links[edit]

* Calendrier positiviste (PDF of 1993 reprint)