Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte, the "Father of Positivism", pointed out the need to keep society unified as many traditions were diminishing. He was the first person to coin the term sociology. Auguste Comte suggests that sociology is the product of a three-stage development.[12]
1. Theological Stage: From the beginning of human history until the end of the European Middle Ages, people took a religious view that society expressed God's will.[13] In the theological state, the human mind, seeking the essential nature of beings, the first and final causes (the origin and purpose) of all effects—in short, absolute knowledge—supposes all phenomena to be produced by the immediate action of supernatural beings.[14]
2. Metaphysical Stage: People began seeing society as a natural system as opposed to the supernatural. This began with the Enlightenment and the ideas of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. Perceptions of society reflected the failings of a selfish human nature rather than the perfection of God.[15]
3. Scientific Stage: Describing society through the application of the scientific approach, which draws on the work of scientists.[15]