who gave sociology its name and promoted the scientific study of society
Sociology
The word sociology ( or `` sociologie '' ) is derived from both Latin and Greek origins . The Latin word : socius , `` companion '' ; the suffix - logy , `` the study of '' from Greek - λογία from λόγος , lógos , `` word '' , `` knowledge '' . It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel - Joseph Sieyès ( 1748 -- 1836 ) in an unpublished manuscript . Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science , Auguste Comte ( 1798 -- 1857 ) , in 1838 . Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society . Comte had earlier used the term `` social physics '' , but that had subsequently been appropriated by others , most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet . Comte endeavoured to unify history , psychology and economics through the scientific understanding of the social realm . Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution , he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism , an epistemological approach outlined in The Course in Positive Philosophy ( 1830 -- 1842 ) and A General View of Positivism ( 1848 ) . Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era , after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases , in the progression of human understanding . In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science , and having classified the sciences , Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term . Auguste 
The word sociology ( or `` sociologie '' ) is derived from both Latin and Greek origins . The Latin word : socius , `` companion '' ; the suffix - logy , `` the study of '' from Greek - λογία from λόγος , lógos , `` word '' , `` knowledge '' . It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel - Joseph Sieyès ( 1748 -- 1836 ) in an unpublished manuscript . Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science , Auguste Comte ( 1798 -- 1857 ) , in 1838 . Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society . Comte had earlier used the term `` social physics '' , but that had subsequently been appropriated by others , most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet . Comte endeavoured to unify history , psychology and economics through the scientific understanding of the social realm . Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution , he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism , an epistemological approach outlined in The Course in Positive Philosophy ( 1830 -- 1842 ) and A General View of Positivism ( 1848 ) . Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era , after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases , in the progression of human understanding . In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science , and having classified the sciences , Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term . Auguste
It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel - Joseph Sieyès (1748 -- 1836) in an unpublished manuscript.  Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science, Auguste Comte (1798 -- 1857) who endeavored to unify history, psychology and economics through the scientific understanding of the social realm.
It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel - Joseph Sieyès ( 1748 -- 1836 ) in an unpublished manuscript . Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science , Auguste Comte ( 1798 -- 1857 ) , in 1838 . Comte endeavoured to unify history , psychology and economics through the scientific understanding of the social realm .