Editing Structural functionalism (section)

===Auguste Comte===
{{see|Law of three stages}}
[[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''. Comte suggests that sociology is the product of a three-stage development:<ref name=":4" />
# '''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.<ref name=":4" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Auguste Comte and positivism : the essential writings|author=Comte, Auguste|date=1998|publisher=Transaction Publishers|others=Lenzer, Gertrude.|isbn=978-0765804129|location=New Brunswick, NJ|oclc=37437499}}</ref>
# '''Metaphysical stage''': People began seeing society as a natural system as opposed to the supernatural. This began with [[Age of Enlightenment|enlightenment]] and the ideas of [[Thomas Hobbes|Hobbes]], [[John Locke|Locke]], and Rousseau. Perceptions of society reflected the failings of a selfish human nature rather than the perfection of God.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=Sociology|last=J.|first=Macionis, John|date=2012|publisher=Pearson|isbn=9780205116713|edition= 14th|location=Boston|oclc=727658545}}</ref>
# '''Positive or scientific stage''': Describing society through the application of the [[Scientific method|scientific approach]], which draws on the work of scientists.<ref name=":5" />