AUGUSTE COMTE Auguste Comte was the first to develop the concept of "sociology." He defined sociology as a positive science.

Positivism is the search for "invariant laws of the natural and social world." Comte identified three basic methods for discovering these invariant laws, observation, experimentation, and comparison. He is also famous for his Law of the Three Stages. These three stages are the theological, metaphysical, and positivist. Comte discussed the difference between social statistics and social dynamics; which have been renamed social structure and social change. Comtes ideas have had a major role in developing structural functionalism. His major goal was to integrate theory and practice HERBERT SPENCER Because Spencer's moral arguments did not change dramatically, we will concentrate on Social Statics. The basic argument of Social Statics can be stated as follows: Human happiness can be achieved only when individuals can satisfy their needs and desires without infringing on the rights of others to do the same. As Spencer emphasized, Each member of the race . . . must not only be endowed with faculties enabling him to receive the highest enjoyment in the act of living, but must be so constituted that he may obtain full satisfaction for every desire, without diminishing the power of others to obtain like satisfaction: nay, to fulfill the purpose perfectly, must derive pleasure from seeing pleasure in others.4 THE SOCIOLOGY OF HERBERT SPENCER Herbert Spencer saw himself as a philosopher rather than as a sociologist. His grand scheme was termed Synthetic Philosophy, and it was to encompass all realms of the universe: physical, psychological, biological, sociological, and ethical. The inclusion of the ethical component makes this philosophy problematic because ideological statements do occasionally slip into Spencer's sociology. Spencer's philosophy was a grand, cosmic scheme, but when he turned to sociology, he made many precise statements and introduced a copious amount of empirical data to illustrate his theoretical ideas. Spencer was, at best, a mediocre philosopher, but he was a very accomplished sociologist, even though he took up sociology rather late in his career. We will begin with the moral philosophy, just to get it out of the way, and then we will turn to his important sociological contributions.1 KARL MARX Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, sociologist,economic historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist who developed the socio-political theory of Marxism. His ideas have since played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement. He published various books during his lifetime, with the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (18671894), many of which were co-written with his friend, the fellow German revolutionary socialistFriedrich Engels EMILE The Rules of Sociological Method (French: Les Rgles de la Mthode Sociologique) is a book bymile Durkheim, first published in 1895. It is recognized as being the direct result of

Durkheim's own project of establishing sociology as a positivist social science.[1][2] Durkheim is seen as one of the fathers of sociology,[3] and this work, his manifesto of sociology.[4] Durkheim distinguishes sociology from other sciences and justifies his rationale.[1] Sociology is the science of social facts. Durkheim suggests two central theses, without which sociology would not be a science: 1. It must have a specific object of study. Unlike philosophy or psychology, sociology's proper object of study are social facts. 2. It must respect and apply a recognized objective scientific method, bringing it as close as possible to the other exact sciences. This method must at all cost avoid prejudice andsubjective judgment.[5] Natural law theory is a philosophical and legal belief that all humans are governed by basic innate laws, or laws of nature, which are separate and distinct from laws which are legislated. Legislated laws are sometimes referred to as positive laws in the framework of natural lawtheory, to make a clear distinction between natural and social laws. Natural law theory has heavily influenced the laws and governments of many nations, including England and the United States, and it is also reflected in publications like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The origins of natural law theory lie in Ancient Greece. Many Greek philosophers discussed and codified the concept of natural law, and it played an important role in Greek government. Later philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke built on the work of the Greeks in natural law theory treatises of their own. Many of these philosophers used natural law as a framework for criticizing and reforming positive laws, arguing that positive laws which are unjust under the principles of natural law are legally wanting Instinct theory is a theory that all actions, thoughts, and intents can be traced back to being caused by instinct. Human actions such as ridiculing others can be thought to be akin to an animal attacking a younger animal of the same species so as to deter them from trying to usurp a leader in the pack. It is often this that offers an explanation for why a person would act one way or another. Adultery is another form of this. Instinct tells animals to take the easiest path to survival.If a significant other doesn't produce offspring or sufficiently please a person, that person might look for another way to perpetuate the species or to live more easily. It is an advanced form of crude animal behavior. The influence of dualism on early psychology provided a temptingly simple answer to the question of why people behave as they do. Because dualist views of human nature supported the idea of free will, the dualist 'theory' of motivation succintly asserted that people choose their courses of action. This view presented problems for scientific psychologists, especially as research identified indisputable environmental influences on behaviour. Given the mechanistic influences on early psychology, a more appealing theory of motivation explained human behaviour as being, like animal behaviour, governed by instincts. Instincts are innate, goal-directed sequences of

behaviour; they are more complex than simple reflexes but are impervious to the influence of learning and experience. The concept of instinct enjoyed great popularity and support in the late 19th century. Two very different instinct theories of motivation were developed by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the functionalist William James. Sigmund Freud. Freud's view of instincts was very broad, almost on the order of the later concept of a drive. In Freud's view, human behaviour was motivated by two biologically energized instincts, respectively termed Eros, the life instinct, and Thanatos, the death instinct. The life instinct was considered to be the basis for sexual motivation, while the death instinct underlay aggressive motivation. For Freud, these instincts and most of their subsequent motivations remained a part of each individual's unconscious. In contrast, most other theories of motivation emphasize explanations for conscious motivation. William James. In line with his functionalist perspective, James emphasized the survival value of instinctive motivation. He argued that humans were born with a score of instincts - such as fear, sociability, cleanliness, and love - which underlay all more complex behaviour. Critics assailed instinct theories of motivation for merely labelling yet failing to explain behaviour. Moreover, instincts were not observable and could not be subjected to empirical testing or behaviourist evaluation.