Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences of human behavior. There were several people who made great contributions in this field. Two of these people were Karl Marx and Auguste Comte. They were great men of thought that aided in building the framework for what is now known as sociology. Both men were very important to the field of sociology even though they had some completely different theories. One must understand these two men, both how the were similar and how they were different, in order to have a better understanding of what the field of sociology is as it exists today. .
Auguste Comte was born in France in 1798. He is regarded as the founder of sociology because he was the first to coin the term. His goal was to establish sociology as an intellectual disciple. Comte's great works were The Course in Positive Philosophy and The System of Positive Polity. Since he grew up in France during a time of great upheaval, he had very conservative views on war and revolution. He believed that ideals could change a social system without the need for revolt. He believed that conflict comes from ideology rather than from social classing.
Auguste Comte used a scientific approach called positivism as the basis of a new science of social order and development. Comte thought that there were three stages to the development of human thought and social development. These stages were the theological, the metaphysical, and the positive or scientific. The theological state is concerned with how the mind searches for ultimate knowledge. This search generally deals with supernatural beings and how they act upon all things. The metaphysical state is a transitional state between the theological and the positive. It takes different view than the theological state, in that it is less concerned with supernatural beings and more concerned with the abstract forces involved in day to day occurrences.