Ernst Emil Paul Barth (born on 1 August 1858 in Baruthe near Oels, Silesia; died on 30 September 1922 in Leipzig), known simply as Paul Barth, was a German sociologist and philosopher.
He edited the Vierteljahrsschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie (Quarterly Journal for Scholarly Philosophy), and was extraordinary professor in the University of Leipzig. He wrote on philosophical subjects, but is known above all for his Philosophie der Geschichte als Sociologie (Philosophy of History as Sociology), the first volume of which appeared in 1897. This book is one of the most authoritative historical sketches of the development of sociological theory which had been published in Germany.
Among Barth's other writings were: