Materialism is a strong epistemological hurdle for Comte as it defines the attitude which reduces the analysis of phenomena to an absolute causality. Because of this way of thinking, a lot of scientists are not able to make any progress in their research as they get stuck in their speciality. The article points out the following paradox: if Comte rejected materialism, especially in his Discours sur l’ensemble du positivisme, he builds up a kind of materialistic wisdom in the way he deals with the balance of cerebral functions and with the development of the instinct of sociability.