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Classical Sociological Thinkers: SOC 223 Lecture-4

The document summarizes Auguste Comte's classification of sciences. According to Comte, sciences can be classified based on their dependence on one another and their level of complexity. Comte believed that sciences progress from simpler to more complex, and that sociology is the most complex and dependent science as it relies on explanations from other sciences like biology, physics and chemistry to understand human and social phenomena. Comte's classification aimed to establish sociology as a scientific discipline by demonstrating its place as the most advanced science in the hierarchy of knowledge.

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25 views

Classical Sociological Thinkers: SOC 223 Lecture-4

The document summarizes Auguste Comte's classification of sciences. According to Comte, sciences can be classified based on their dependence on one another and their level of complexity. Comte believed that sciences progress from simpler to more complex, and that sociology is the most complex and dependent science as it relies on explanations from other sciences like biology, physics and chemistry to understand human and social phenomena. Comte's classification aimed to establish sociology as a scientific discipline by demonstrating its place as the most advanced science in the hierarchy of knowledge.

Uploaded by

Pankaj Mahanta
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THINKERS

SOC 223
Lecture- 4
Quick Check
• According to Comte what are the progression
stages of society?

• Comte’s two points to classify science into 6?

• Sociology emerged as a science for explaining


what?
1. Human facts
2. Societal change
Today’s lecture focuses on

• Criteria for classifying sciences


Comte classified science based on the
following criteria

• The order of their increasing dependence on


one another

• The order of increasing complexity or


simplicity of sciences
Classification based on dependence of
sciences on one another

• Comte believed that all sciences are;


• Dependent on one another
• Knowledge, theories and explanation of Biology are
dependent on the knowledge of Chemistry
• For eg: hormones and enzymes in the human body
involves certain chemical processes
• Chemistry is dependent on Physics because the
physical characteristics of an object also influence
its chemical characteristics
• Comte argued that;
• The degree of dependence of one science on other
sciences varies
• As per the degree of dependency, Sociology is the
most dependent science
• Sociology depends on all other sciences
• Comte viewed Mathematics as most independent
science which doesn’t depend on any other science.
• Mathematical knowledge does not require
explanations from Biology, Physics, Sociology or any
other sciences
Classification based on complexity or simplicity of
sciences

• According to Comte- its another important criterion for


classification of sciences
• In terms of the complexity of sciences, Comte viewed that
Sociology is the most complex one.
• The reason behind this is;
• The social phenomena are multi-dimensional, complex and
linked with many observable as well as unobservable
dynamics.
• For eg: study of human behavior need to consider its social,
biological and psychological dynamics which may directly or
indirectly shape the behaviour of individual.
In short;

• Comte argued that,


• Scientific knowledge goes through stages of
development similar to how mankind goes through
stages of development
• Mathematics was the first science to reach positive
stage followed by Astronomy, Physics and
Chemistry
• The first science to move from the metaphysical to
the positive stage was Biology
• Sociology reached the positive stage through the
thoughts of thinkers during 17th and 18th centuries
The purpose of this classification was;

• To prove sociology as a purely scientific discipline


• According to Comte;

• Sociology is the abstract theoretical science of social


phenomena (Later years)
What is Abstract theoretical science?
• An independent science because sociology needs to
discover abstract social laws and thereby to explain
social phenomena.
• It has its field of study, boundary, methods and concepts
• Sociology is more concerned with the form of social
events and their patterns.
• Its not interested in the concrete manipulation or
influences of social events
• At first Comte called Sociology as ‘Social
Physics’ later he changed the name

• The reason behind this was;


• Comte found that Belgian scientist, Adolphe
Quetelet used this term to describe simple
statistics
• Comte changed the name as Sociology- which is a
combination of Latin and Greek words which
denote the study of society on a highly
generalized or abstract level
Interaction
Dr Aswathy V K
28401
[email protected]
9526277463

Thank You!

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