Law of three stages

For Kierkegaard's theory of the three stages, see Philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard#Three stages of life.

The Law of Three Stages is an idea developed by Auguste Comte. It states that society as a whole, and each particular science, develops through three mentally conceived stages: (1) the theological stage, (2) the metaphysical stage, and (3) the positive stage.

The progression of the three stages

(1) The Theological stage refers to explanation by personified deities. During the earlier stages, man believed that all thee phenomena of nature are the creation of the divine or supernatural.Man and children failed to discover the natural causes of various phenomena and hence attributed them to supernatural or divine power.Comte broke this stage into 3 sub-stages:

1A. Fetishism- Fetishism was the primary stage of the theological stage of thinking. Throughout this stage, the primitive people had a belief that inanamit objects had living spirit in it, also known as animism. People worshipped inanimate objects like tress, stones, a piece of wood, etc.

1B. Polytheism - The explanation of things through the use of many Gods. Primitive people believe that each natural forces were controlled by different Gods; a few examples would be God of water, God of rain and God of fire, God of air, etc.

1C. Monotheism - Monotheism means believing in one God or God in one; attributing all to a single, supreme deity.

(2) The Metaphysical stage is the extension of theological stage. Metaphysical stage refers to explanation by impersonal abstract explanation, often people tried to believe that God is an abstract being.It is believed that an abstract power or force guides and determines the events in the world. Metaphysical thinking discards belief in concrete God. The nature of enquiry was legal and rational in nature. For example; Classical Hindu Indian society where the principle of transmigration of soul, the conception of rebirth, notions of pursuant has were largely governed by metaphysical uphill.

(3) The Positivity stage, also known as the scientific stage, refers to scientific explanation based on observation, experiment, and comparison. Positive explanations rely upon a distinct method, the scientific method, for its justification. During this stage, human tried to establish cause and affect relationship. Positivism is a purely intellectual way of looking at the world; as well it puts emphasises on observation and classification of data and facts.

Comte proposed a hierarchy of the sciences based on historical sequence, with areas of knowledge passing through these stages in order of complexity. The simplest and most remote areas of knowledge - mechanical or physical - become scientific first. These are followed by the more complex sciences, those considered closest to us.

The sciences, then, according to Comte's "law", developed in this order: Mathematics; Astronomy; Physics; Chemistry; Biology; Psychology; Sociology. A science of society is thus the "Queen science" in Comte's hierarchy as it would be the most fundamentally complex. Through social science, Comte believed all human social ills could be remedied.

Critiques of the law

William Whewell wrote "Mr. Comte's arrangement of the progress of science as successively metaphysical and positive, is contrary to history in fact, and contrary to sound philosophy in principle." The historian of science H. Floris Cohen has made a significant effort to draw the modern eye towards this first debate on the foundations of positivism.

In contrast, within an entry dated early October 1838 Charles Darwin wrote in one of his then private notebooks that "M. Comte's idea of a theological state of science [is a] grand idea."

See also

• Positivism
• Sociological positivism
• Antipositivism
• Religion of humanity

External links

• History Guide