Law of three stages

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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 theocratic stage, (2) the metaphysical stage, and (3) the positive stage.

(1) The Theocratic stage refers to explanation by personified deities. Comte broke this stage into 3 sub-stages:
1A. Animism- Turning everyday objects into items of extreme religious purpose and worship, perhaps with godlike qualities.
1B. Polytheism - Explanation of things through the use of many gods.
1C. Monotheism - Attributing all to a single, supreme deity.

(2) The Metaphysical stage refers to explanation by impersonal abstract explanation. Often those who developed metaphysical systems believed they were engaging in scientific activity, but they were not.

(3) The Positivity stage refers to scientific explanation based on observation, experiment, and comparison. Positive explanations rely upon a distinct method, the scientific method, for its justification.

Auguste Comte also believed that there is a hierarchy of the sciences based on the historical sequence of the sciences, with areas of knowledge passing through these stages in order of difficulty. The simplest and most remote 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.

[edit] Refutation of Laws

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." ^[1] 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. ^[2]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• History Guide