Page 23 - DSOC401_SOCIOLOGICAL_THOUGHT_ENGLISH

Unit-4: Law of Three Stages

and secondaly they are present in our historical experiences. This rule is as such : all our important/ notes
main beliefs, every branch of our knowledge, one by one have to pass through three theoretical stages
– religious or imaginative stage, metaphysical or abstract stage and scientific or positive stage.”
“During the religious stage, searching for the nature of the world (creation) or the premiere and end
reasons of the happenings of natural reasons (production and objective) man, in trying to understand
them, accepts that all events are the results of the present activities of divine, other wordly beings.”
“Metaphysical stage is a mere ammendment of the first stage. Man’s mind now believes that not
divine powers, but abstract, unseen mischievous which exist in every living creature are active behind
every event.”
“In the last stage, the mind of man, abandous the futile search for unbiased beliefs, world and evil forces
and their objectives as reasons for all wordly events”, but the rules behind the events are studied. In
other words he observes and studies their repititions, similarities and ponders them. The main basis
for this knowledge is observation and reasoning applied holistically to the given data. “Definition of
Facts” - whatever we understand from this saying is just the establishment of relationships between
simple facts (or data). Those simple facts, with the progress of science, are decreasing day by day.”
The definition of ‘The rule of the three stages” is clear from Comtes above mentioned statements.
Then too the important point of the development of human – knowledge or intellectual development
can be elucidated and explained as follows :
1. theological stage – In this stage all things are considered an image of god or understood and believed
as the resulting form of the activities of some divine beings. It is the belief that the active principle in
all things are divine powers (the spirit of gods and goddesses), and that this force exists in all things,
living or material. Flora and fauna, flow of water, living or material this force exists and is active in
everything. Even in the happening of natural events, man sees only one reason and that reason is
Gods – goddesses or such other divine force. Whether this thinking is right or wrong is secondary,
but in this stage, this is the form that man’s thinking about his surrounding subject–matter takes. A
great difference is observed between man and animals, for man can think and ponder. According to
Comte, even in this stage there are 3 sub–stages:

Notes August Comte is called father of Sociology.

(i) Fetishism,
(ii) Polytheism,
(iii) Monotheism.
(i) In the first sub-stage, the life–force is experienced in every object, and accordingly there is complete
trust on magic and miracles.
(ii) In the second sub–stage, the human mind is better organized and as a result, man is irritated
numerous, gods and magic etc, and the feelings arises that he should see them in united form. As a
result, gods and goddesses are created who represent the different aspects of life. This is the stage of
polytheism, because numerous gods are worshipped and believed in as this stage.
(iii) But because of these numerous gods–goddesses, psychological confusion continues. For this reason
man stops distributing his devotion and faith between many gods–goddesses, but endows one god
with all the united powers, and wishes to give that god–head all his ecstatic devotion and faith. This
is the stage of monotheism, when it is believed that behind every event and object, exists the action
of a single god. As the human view–point expands, and his thinking powers become serious and

LoVeLY professionaL uniVersitY 17