SOCB42H3 Lecture : Lecture 4
Document Summary
Understand characteristics of comte"s positivism and his view about the proper method of sociology. Note the division between social statics and social dynamics, which persisted into the. Understand that, contrary to this division, comte believed as do all evolutionists that social structure and change could not be understood in isolation. Know characteristics of individuals, according to comte, and their influence on his ideas of positive society. Understand the core contradiction in comte"s work: that between positivism and the. Questions to guide the reading/to think about ahead of time for students. Describe metaphysical and positive stages in social development, according to. Today we discuss views of comte, who is regarded by some as the founder of sociology, and by the others as a metaphysical anti-sociologist. This disagreement follows an actual fissure in comte"s work. He believed in many enlightenment principles and at the same time feared social consequences of enlightenment in his time.