CONTRIBUTORS IN SOCIOLOGY

Auguste Comte-(1898-1857) He is considered as father of sociology. Comte was born at Montpellier, in France. He founded the philosophy of positivism, and originated a concept of social science known as sociology.
Comte sought to discover the laws that he believed governed the evolution of the mind. In his six-volume work, The Course of Positive Philosophy (1830-1842), he framed his "law of the three states." This law advanced the idea that people try to understand phenomena in three ways. Comte believed that people first seek a theological (supernatural) explanation; then a metaphysical (abstract) explanation; and finally a positive explanation. The positive explanation is derived from an objective examination of the phenomena. Comte believed that students should concern themselves only with phenomena that have an objective, "positive," existence. This belief forms a basis of positivism. He also has given importance to "social static and social Mobility" and cleared that changes of society can be understood on these basis. His contribution in field of Social reconstruction is related to social welfare of human beings, which should be studied with social methods.
Comte regarded all social thought as an interrelated whole, the laws of which can be found by assembling what he considered the facts. His ideas have influenced students of historical and social theory, and of criminology, and such authors as Herbert Spencer and John Stuart Mill, who were seeking a "science of society."

Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903), was a British philosopher. He attempted to work out a comprehensive philosophy based on the scientific discoveries of his day. Spencer was greatly influenced by the English naturalist Charles Darwin. He applied his own and Darwin's fundamental law--the idea of evolution (gradual development)--to