The Laws of Three Stages

What are the laws of three stages....Auguste Comte is regarded as an outstanding thinker, who heralded the birth of a new science called “sociology”....

Auguste Comte is regarded as an outstanding thinker, who heralded the birth of a new science called “sociology”. His “Magnum Opus Cours de Philosophic Positive” was written during the period of 1830-1842. The principle evolved by Comte in the study of human thinking presumes gradual evolution and development in human thinking and is known as “The Law of Three Stages”. It must be noted that he was quite aware of the application of fundamental concepts of science to analyze and interpret the stages of development. The law of human progress or the law of three stages emerged with his central conception concerning a method of scientific comparison through time.

Comte held that the society of man must be studied in the same scientific manner as the world of nature. It is subject to basic laws just as is the rest of the cosmos, even though it presents at its complexities. Comte pointed out that natural science had succeeded in establishing the lawfulness of natural phenomena. It discovered that these phenomena, from the falling of stone to the movement of planets, followed ordered sequences of development. The world of nature, science had succeeded in progressively in contracting the realm of the apparently no ordered for the fortuitous and the accidental. The stage was now set for a similar endeavor in the study of society.

The law of three stages as explained in ‘System de Politique Positive’ – by Comte is to be presented here –

        “Each of our leading conceptions – each branch of our knowledge, passes successively through three different theoretical conditions; the Theological or fictitious; the Metaphysical or abstract; and the Scientific or positive… In the first and final cause (the origin and purpose) of all effects… Supposes all phenomena to be produced by the immediate action of supernatural beings. In the metaphysics state…. The mind supposes…. Abstract forces, veritable entities (that is, personified abstractions)… capable of producing all phenomena…. In the final, the positive state, the mind has given over the vain search after Absolute notions, the origin and destination of the universe, and the causes of phenomena, and applies itself to the study of their laws – that is, their invariable relations of succession and resemblance.”

According to Comte, each successive stage or sub-stage in the evolution of mind necessarily grew out of the preceding one.

While explaining the stages of development and progressive emancipation of human kind, he stressed that these stages are so-related with parallel stages in the development of social organization, of types of social order, of types of social units and of the material conditions of human life. All these, evolved in similar manner as the changes in progressive mental development. Comte pointed out that the evolution of the human thinking is closely associated with different stages of progress, as follows:

• Theological or Fictitious stage;
• Metaphysical or Abstract stage; and
• Positive or Scientific stage.

THEOLOGICAL STAGE: The theological stage is the first, and it characterized the world prior to 1300. During this period, the major idea system emphasized the belief that supernatural powers, religious figures, modeled after humankind, are at the root of everything. In particular, the social and physical world is seen as produced by God. According to Comte in this stage “all theological conceptions weather general or special bear a super natural impress”. This type of thinking is found among the primitive races. Theological thinking is characterized by non-scientific or in- scientific outlook. The explanation of natural events in non-natural, divine or imaginary condition is known as theological or fictitious thinking.

Comte has classified the theological stage further in three stages:

• FETISHISM: It is a belief that there is some living spirit in the non-living objects.
• POLYTHESISM: It is a stage where man classified Gods as well as natural and human forces. Each natural or human force is associated with a presiding deity. Each God has some definite function and area of action which is polytheistic.
• MONOTHEISM: It is the last and most developed form of theological thinking is manifested in monotheism. Monotheism implies a belief in one God and it symbolizes the victory of human intellect and reason over non-intellectual and irrational thinking.

METAPHYSICAL STAGE: The metaphysical or abstract thinking marks the second stage in the evolution of human beings which occurred roughly between 1300 and 1800. This era was characterized by the belief that abstract forces like “nature”, rather than personalized Gods, explain virtually everything. With the gradual improvement in human thinking, the human problems become more complex and intricate. The theological thinking was not adequate to tackle these efficiently. In order to resolve the intellectual riddle, metaphysical thinking, belief in an abstract transcendental entity or absolute replaces the belief in personal concrete God. Under metaphysical thinking it is believed that an abstract power or force guides and determines the events in the world.

SCIENTIFIC STAGE: After theological and metaphysical thinking comes the next stage scientific or positive stage, around 1800 the world entered the positivistic age, characterized by the belief in science. This stage is based upon facts and these facts are gathered by observation and experience. The observation and classification of facts are the beginning of the scientific knowledge. The scientific thinking is thoroughly rational. People now tended to give up the search for absolute causes (God or nature) and concentrated instead on observation of the social and physical world in the search for the laws governing them.

Finally, Auguste Comte is of the opinion that all human thinking before reaching the stage of positivism must have passed through the two earlier stages – theological and metaphysical thinking. Here each stage of development of thinking is associated with different types of social organisations:

  -Theological stage laid to the development of a social organization where social laws, political laws were accepted as absolutely valid and nobody questioned their validity.

  -In metaphysical stage, social organization assumes a different dimension. The societies were guided by some abstract principles. There is a movement towards decentralization of power.

   -In scientific stage social and political laws are determined in a definite and well defined form. In these societies industrial technology pre-dominates.

Comte’s theory of law of three stages must be regarded as a remarkable contribution in the development of sociological thought. However, the law of three stages has strongly mentalistic or idealistic bias. Still he co-related each mental age of mankind with its characteristic accompany social organization and type of political dominants. The theological stage is dominated by priests and ruled by military men. The metaphysical stage which corresponds to Middle Ages and the Reinessa was under the way of church men and lawyer. The positive stage will be governed by industrial administrators and scientific moral guides.

It is clear that in his theory of the world Comte focused on intellectual factors. Indeed, he argued that intellectual disorder was the cause of social disorder. The disorder stemmed from earlier idea systems (theological and metaphysical) that continued to exist in the positivistic (scientific) age. Only when positivism gained total control would social upheavals cease. Because this was an evolutionary process, there was no need to foment social upheaval and revolution. Positivism would come, although perhaps not as quickly as some would like. Here Comte’s social reformism and his sociology coincide. Sociology could expedite the arrival of positivism and hence bring order to the social world. Above all, Comte did not want to seem to be espousing revolution. There was, in his view, enough disorder in the world. In any case, from Comte’s point of view, it was intellectual change that was needed, so there was little reason for social and political revolution.

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You can visit some significant Theories by some Great Theorists:
Voluntaristic Theory of Action (Voluntaristic Action), Generalized Media of Exchange, Four-Function Paradigm (AGIL Model in Systemic Model), Cynicism (Circulation of Elites), Hierarchy of the Sciences (The Classification of the Science), The Philosophy of Money, Organicism, Order and progress (Interrelation between Social Statics and Social Dynamics)

Reference:

• George Ritzer, Sociological Theory.
• Lewis A. Coser, Masters of Sociological Thought. 

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Related Questions:

Understanding the Law of Three Stages as presented by Auguste Comte.

Evolution of human thinking with the help of the Three Stages.

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