August Comte
Auguste Comte was one of the founders of sociology and coined the term sociology. Comte believed sociology could unite all sciences and improve society. Comte was a positivist who argued that sociology must have a scientific base and be objective. Comte theorized a three-stage development of society.
His ambition to unify the sciences was not unique. Other thinkers of the nineteenth century (for example, Herbert Spencer) held similar goals. This period was a key turning point in defining disciplinary boundaries. In sociology’s early days, disciplinary boundaries were less well defined than today. Many classical theorists of sociology (including Karl Marx, Ferdinand Toennies, Emile Durkheim, Vilfredo Pareto, and Max Weber) were trained in other academic disciplines, including history, philosophy, and economics. The diversity of their trainings is reflected in the topics they researched and in the occasional impulse to unify the sciences in a universal explanation of human life.Key Ideas: Law of Three Stages, Positivism