Compte`s later years were marked by mind alienation and episodes of madness that lasted for long intervals. To him, the knowledge of all subjects, from astrology to sociology, should come from the correlation of empirical evidence. Compte’s systematic studies of social statistics and dynamics set the basis for modern sociology, which in its earlier stages was called “social physics.”
The first definition of sociology was proposed by Auguste Compte in 1838, with the aim of using his term to describe a new science that would describe laws for society similar to those for nature, by applying the same methods of research as in the physical sciences. Herbert Spencer adopted this term and continued Compte’s labor.