Question

Define what Auguste Comte meant by positivism. Then describe Comte's three historical epistemological stages of human society.

Answer 1

Positivism stresses on the information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, as forming the exclusive source of all knowledge. As in the case of natural sciences, Comte argued that the study of the society should also be subject to the same methodology involving empirical evidence. Comte’s positivism was posited on his proposition of the three historical epistemological stages of human society:

1. ?In the first stage, called the theological stage, natural phenomena are explained as the result of supernatural or divine powers.
2. The second stage called the metaphysical stage, is in some cases merely a depersonalized theology. The observable processes of nature are assumed to arise from impersonal powers.
3. The final stage referred to as the positivist stage involves theory, speculation, and empirical research, that could create a realist science that would accurately “copy” or represent the way things actually are in the world.