SOCIAL SCIENCES
SOCIOLOGY
«SCIENCE WITH MORE ME THODS AND LE SS
RESULTS»
,TABLE OF
CONTENTS
AUGUSTE COMTE
3
The origin of sociology
KARL MARX
5 The class struggle
ÉMILE DURKHEIM
7 The functionalism
, FRANCE (1798 – 1857)
AUGUSTE COMTE
THE ORIGIN OF SOCIOLOGY
It is said that science arises out of
necessity. The emergence of sociology
as a formal science was no exception.
After the French Revolution, European
societies needed to rebuild
themselves, but the question was how.
The answer proposed by Comte was
science, but let us explain what he
meant. Comte, like many other
thinkers, considered that the societies
of human beings have gone through
three important moments that were
characterized by the conception of the
world.
THE THREE STAGES:
I. Theological stage, in which all natural phenomena were explained
by means of religion, usually polytheistic.
II. Metaphysical stage, in which phenomena will be explained by
means of abstract entities, this includes the modern conceptions of
monotheistic religions but also the metaphysical ideas of the
existence of the ether and the postulates of Thomas Hobbes'
physicalism.
III. Scientific stage, in which what Comte called positivism arose. The
explanations of the world were now made by means of the scientific
method and it was analyzed by means of the different existing
sciences. For Comte, the reconstruction of society had to be within the
framework of positivism, by means of a science, but there was no
formal science at that time that investigated society; it was necessary
to create it under the name of social physics. The idea was that by
means of observation, hypotheses and the scientific method, society
could be improved in the same way that physics and chemistry help
us to improve people's living conditions.
3
SOCIOLOGY
«SCIENCE WITH MORE ME THODS AND LE SS
RESULTS»
,TABLE OF
CONTENTS
AUGUSTE COMTE
3
The origin of sociology
KARL MARX
5 The class struggle
ÉMILE DURKHEIM
7 The functionalism
, FRANCE (1798 – 1857)
AUGUSTE COMTE
THE ORIGIN OF SOCIOLOGY
It is said that science arises out of
necessity. The emergence of sociology
as a formal science was no exception.
After the French Revolution, European
societies needed to rebuild
themselves, but the question was how.
The answer proposed by Comte was
science, but let us explain what he
meant. Comte, like many other
thinkers, considered that the societies
of human beings have gone through
three important moments that were
characterized by the conception of the
world.
THE THREE STAGES:
I. Theological stage, in which all natural phenomena were explained
by means of religion, usually polytheistic.
II. Metaphysical stage, in which phenomena will be explained by
means of abstract entities, this includes the modern conceptions of
monotheistic religions but also the metaphysical ideas of the
existence of the ether and the postulates of Thomas Hobbes'
physicalism.
III. Scientific stage, in which what Comte called positivism arose. The
explanations of the world were now made by means of the scientific
method and it was analyzed by means of the different existing
sciences. For Comte, the reconstruction of society had to be within the
framework of positivism, by means of a science, but there was no
formal science at that time that investigated society; it was necessary
to create it under the name of social physics. The idea was that by
means of observation, hypotheses and the scientific method, society
could be improved in the same way that physics and chemistry help
us to improve people's living conditions.
3
