Auguste Comte ( full name : Isidore Marie Auguste FranÃ ois Xavier Comte ; January 17 , 1798 â `` September 5 , 1857 ) was a French thinker who was one from founders of sociology ( from the Latin : socius , `` companion '' ; and the suffix - ology , `` the study of '' , from Greek Î '' Ï Î Î Ï , lÃ gos , `` knowledge '' ) and positivism . Isidore Auguste Marie FranÃ ois Xavier Comte ( 19 January 1798 â `` 5 September 1857 ) , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher , a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism .