Identify Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, and summarize their unique contributions to early sociology

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

French philosopher Auguste Comte coined the term sociology to describe a

new science that would engage in the study of society. Comte's theory stated

that societies contain social statics (forces for social order and stability) and

social dynamics (forces for conflict and change). Comte's philosophy became

known as positivism—a belief that the world can best be understood through

scientific inquiry. He believed that objective, bias-free knowledge was

attainable only through the use of science rather than religion. However,

scientific knowledge was "relative knowledge," not absolute and final. Comte's

positivism had two dimensions: (1) methodological—the application of

scientific knowledge to both physical and social phenomena, and (2) social

and political—the use of such knowledge to predict the likely results of

different policies so that the best one could be chosen. British social theorist

Herbert Spencer's major contribution to sociology was an evolutionary

perspective on social order and social change. According to Spencer's

Theory of General Evolution, society has various interdependent parts (such

as the family, the economy, and the government) that work to ensure the

stability and survival of the entire society. Spencer believed that societies

developed through a process of "struggle" (for existence) and "fitness" (for

survival), which he referred to as the "survival of the fittest." Spencer's view of

society is known as social Darwinism—the belief that those species of

animals, including human beings, best adapted to their environment survive

and prosper, whereas those poorly adapted die out. Spencer equated this

process of natural selection with progress, because only the "fittest"

members of society would survive the competition, and the "unfit" would be

filtered out of society.