Science and Social Science In the 19 th century there was a belief that the world could be understood through science and that The natural world and human society could be understood without any belief in God. People began questioning the literal interpretations of the Bible. – The world was older than the bible had said The theory of evolution (Charles Darwin) The religious leaders said that science could not provide a basis for morality. – They wanted a reconciliation between science and religious faith

The Science of Society Sociology was thought to be one of the most ambitious new fields. - It was the inquiry into human existence. - “science of society” -Human society could be studied, quantified, and understood. People feared: it would strip away the mysteries of human relation and impoverish life. Sociology may have been found in the philosophy of August Comte. Who is he? French thinker ( ) 59 years Invented the word sociology and proponent of positivism. Created the law of 3 stages

Law of 3 stages: (explained history as the steady progress of humanity's understanding of the world through rational observation) 1.“theological” 2.“metaphysical” 3.“positive” In a positive era the world would be explained by verifiable scientific data and method, and all branches of human knowledge would come together in a unified scientific system. Emile Durkheim follows Comte’s sociology He wrote “Division of Labor in Society” (1893) – About the division of labor and how it was good on society. He also wrote a book on suicide. – It lead to an increase in suicides

The influence of Charles Darwin Charles Darwin – Wrote “On the Origin of species”(1859) and “The Descent of Man”(1871) – His greatest contribution was an explanation of how evolution took place: natural selection. +theory: better-adapted species survive while others are eliminated. - he wasn’t able to solve how mutations arose and how they were transmitted - But Gregor Mendel discovered the theory of genetic heredity.