What was Auguste Comte’s law of three stages?

The law of three stages is a theory of intellectual development proposed by the French philosopher Auguste Comte. He argued that human society and individual thought evolve through three distinct phases:12

• Theological Stage: Natural phenomena are explained by supernatural powers, magic, or divine wills. Comte criticized this stage as anthropomorphic, as it relies on human-like analogies to explain the world.1
• Metaphysical Stage: This transitional phase replaces supernatural beings with abstract, impersonal forces, such as essences or teleology. Comte viewed this as a "depersonalized theology" that fails to provide genuine explanations, often resulting in fruitless speculation about ultimate causes.1
• Positive (Scientific) Stage: The final stage, which defines positivism, relies exclusively on scientific method and empirical observation. Here, knowledge is limited to observable facts and the formulation of descriptive laws.1

Comte believed that reaching this final stage represents the full maturity of human thought, moving away from unanswerable questions toward the study of regularities in nature and society.1