Author(s): Ä°sa KUYUCUOÄLU
In this paper which aims to analyze the origins of classical sociology and its historical development, where the schools of thought of Enlightenment, Positivism and Individualism which existed before the establishment of sociology and the basic opinions of leading sociologists who systematized sociology is examined. In this context the basic features of the concepts, theories and methods developed by Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim with a positivist and deterministic view of point that has left a lasting influence on the Western history of ideas as well as in social sciences and sociology are analysed. Further the interpretive (hermeneutic) method developed under the influence of German idealism is examined and the idea of Wilhelm Dilthey and Max Weber which is the most important sociological representative of this method is discussed in comparison with the positivist method of the French school of thought. In this context descriptive method of the natural and technical sciences with interpretive methods of social and human sciences is also investigated.
The Journal of International Social Research received 7760 citations as per Google Scholar report
