law of three stages

is the idea that society (and its science) develops through the stages of theology, metaphysics, ending in positivism.

in his work The Course in Positive Philosophy. It states that society as a whole, and each particular science, develops through three mentally conceived stages: (1) the theological stage, (a. Fetishism, B. Polytheism C. Monotheism) (2) the metaphysical stage, and (3) the positive stage.'

is a theory of the evolution culminating in positivist sociology. At first the subject was conceived in the theological fashion, and all problems were explained by the will of some deity—as when the stars were gods, or the chariots of gods; later, the same subject reached the metaphysical stage, and was explained by metaphysical abstractions-—as when the stars moved in circles because circles were the most perfect figure; finally the subject was reduce to positive science by precise observation, hypothesis, and experiment, and its phenomena were explained through the regularities of natural cause and effect.

In each field of thought the historian of ideas could observe a Law of Three Stages: at first the subject was conceived in the theological fashion, and all problems were explained by the will of some deity—as when the stars were gods, or the chariots of gods; later, the same subject reached the metaphysical stage, and was explained by metaphysical abstractions-—as when the stars moved in circles because circles were the most perfect figure; finally the subject was reduce * to positive science by precise observation, hypothesis, and experiment, and its phenomena were explained through the regularities of natural cause and effect.

law of three stages, n.Definitions

law of three stages