Easy2Siksha Sample Papers
GNDU Most Repeated (Important) Quesons
B.A/B.Sc 5th Semester
SOCIOLOGY (Social Thought)
Based on 4-Year GNDU Queson Paper Trend (2021–2024)
Must-Prepare Quesons (80–100% Probability)
SECTION–A (Founders & Basic Concepts)
1. Comte's Posivism / Law of Three Stages
Appeared in: 2021 (Q1), 2022 (Q1), 2023 (Q1), 2024 (Q1)
Probability for 2025: (100%)
Always asked — includes posivism, social evoluon, and Comte’s ideas.
2025 Smart Predicon Table
(Based on GNDU 2021–2024 Trend)
No.
Queson Topic
Years Appeared
Probability for 2025
1
Comte – Posivism / Law of Three Stages
2021–2024
(100%)
GNDU Most Repeated (Important) Answers
B.A/B.Sc 5th Semester
SOCIOLOGY (Social Thought)
Based on 4-Year GNDU Queson Paper Trend (2021–2024)
Must-Prepare Quesons (80–100% Probability)
SECTION–A (Founders & Basic Concepts)
Easy2Siksha Sample Papers
Comte's Posivism / Law of Three Stages
Appeared in: 2021 (Q1), 2022 (Q1), 2023 (Q1), 2024 (Q1)
Probability for 2025: (100%)
Always asked — includes posivism, social evoluon, and Comte’s ideas.
Ans: Imagine you’re living thousands of years ago. The world is full of mysteries — the
sun rises and sets, lightning flashes in the sky, people fall ill, crops fail, and no one really
knows why. What do humans do when they don’t understand something? They imagine!
They create stories, myths, and gods to explain what they can’t yet understand.
This journey — from wondering “Why does this happen?” to “How does this happen?” —
is the story of human progress.
And one man beautifully captured this journey — Auguste Comte, a French philosopher
often called the Father of Sociology.
Comte believed that human knowledge has evolved in a particular pattern. According to
him, human thought passes through three distinct stages — just like a person grows
from childhood to adulthood, society too grows in its way of thinking and understanding
the world.
He called this beautiful idea “The Law of Three Stages.”
Who Was Auguste Comte?
Before we explore his theory, let’s meet the man himself.
Auguste Comte (1798–1857) lived during a time of great change in Europe. The French
Revolution had shaken society, and people were searching for order and understanding.
Comte looked around and thought — “Can we study society in the same scientific way
that we study nature?”
He believed that just as physics studies matter and biology studies living beings,
sociology should study society — but through facts, not beliefs or assumptions.
This idea — that knowledge should be based on observation, experience, and reason,
not imagination — is what he called Positivism.
What Is Positivism?
Let’s break it down in simple words.
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The word positivism comes from positive, meaning real, certain, or observable.
So, Positivism is the belief that only knowledge gained through scientific observation
and experience is true knowledge.
In other words:
“Don’t just believe — observe, test, and verify.”
For Comte, science was the highest form of knowledge because it’s based on facts, not
faith or speculation.
He wanted to build a society guided by reason and scientific thinking, not by
superstition or religion.
The Law of Three Stages
Comte believed that human society — and human thought — evolve through three
main stages:
1. The Theological Stage (Stage of Imagination)
2. The Metaphysical Stage (Stage of Abstract Thinking)
3. The Positive Stage (Stage of Scientific Reasoning)
Let’s explore these three stages like chapters of a grand story — the story of how
humanity grew up intellectually.
1. The Theological Stage – The Age of Faith
Think of this as the childhood of humanity.
In this stage, people explain everything through religion or supernatural beliefs.
They believe that everything happening in the world is controlled by gods, spirits, or
some divine power.
When they saw thunder, they thought, “The gods are angry!”
When someone fell sick, they believed, “The spirits are punishing us.”
People didn’t have the tools or science to understand nature, so their imagination filled
the gaps.
Comte divided this stage further into three sub-stages:
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(a) Fetishism
This is the earliest phase. People believed that objects like trees, rivers, stones, or
animals had souls or powers. For example, they worshipped the sun, the moon, or the
sea.
(b) Polytheism
As thinking developed, people began to believe in many gods, each controlling different
parts of nature — the god of rain, god of war, goddess of fertility, and so on.
(c) Monotheism
Finally, people moved to the idea of one supreme God who controlled everything in the
universe. This is the phase where major religions like Christianity and Islam emerged.
In short, during the Theological Stage, people depended on belief and imagination
rather than observation and logic.
2. The Metaphysical Stage – The Age of Abstract Thought
Now imagine a teenager — curious, questioning, no longer accepting everything on faith
but still not fully mature in understanding. That’s what this stage represents.
In the Metaphysical Stage, people began to question the old religious explanations.
They no longer said, “God did it,” but started thinking in terms of abstract forces or
ideas.
For example:
• Instead of saying “God created life,” people might say “Nature created life.”
• Instead of saying “The gods bring rain,” they’d say “It’s due to natural forces.”
Here, philosophy replaced religion as the main way to explain the world.
But — there’s a catch.
Even though people were thinking more logically, they still didn’t use real scientific
observation. They just replaced gods with abstract ideas like “nature,” “essence,” or
“vital force.”
So this stage was a bridge — halfway between imagination and science.
Comte compared this to adolescence, where a person is growing out of imagination but
not yet a fully rational adult.
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3. The Positive Stage – The Age of Science
Now comes the maturity of human thought — the Positive or Scientific Stage.
In this stage, people stop asking “Why does this happen?” and start asking “How does
this happen?”
They no longer depend on unseen forces or abstract ideas. Instead, they look for
scientific laws and evidence.
This is the age of observation, experimentation, and reasoning.
For example:
• Instead of saying “Rain comes because of God’s mercy,” people now say “Rain is
caused by the evaporation and condensation of water.”
• Instead of saying “A person is ill because of evil spirits,” they say “The illness is
caused by bacteria or viruses.”
This is the stage where sciences like physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology develop.
Comte believed that once society enters this stage, progress becomes unstoppable.
People begin to use science to solve social problems — from disease and poverty to
governance and education.
For Comte, this was the ideal stage of human civilization — a world guided by reason
and facts, not by faith or speculation.
Summary of the Three Stages
Stage
Nature of
Thought
Explanation
Based On
Example
Stage of Life
(Symbolically)
Theological
Imaginative
Supernatural
beings (Gods,
Spirits)
“Thunder
happens because
gods are angry.”
Childhood
Metaphysical
Abstract
Philosophical or
unseen forces
“Nature causes
thunder.”
Adolescence
Positive
Scientific
Observation and
laws of science
“Thunder occurs
due to lightning
discharge.”
Adulthood
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The Role of Science and Sociology
Comte believed that just like physics studies the physical world, sociology should study
human society in a scientific manner.
He wanted to build a “science of society” that could discover laws governing social
behavior — just like Newton discovered the laws of motion.
For him, sociology was the “Queen of all sciences”, because it dealt with the most
complex subject — human beings and their relationships.
He even proposed that society progresses only when guided by scientific knowledge.
Thus, sociology was meant to bring order and progress, his famous motto being:
“Love as a principle, Order as the basis, Progress as the goal.”
The Importance of Comte’s Theory
1. Foundation of Sociology
Comte gave sociology its scientific foundation. He was the first to treat social
phenomena as things that could be studied scientifically.
2. Understanding Social Evolution
His Law of Three Stages explains how human thought and society evolve over
time — from superstition to rationality.
3. Encouraging Rational Thinking
Comte inspired generations to think logically, question blind beliefs, and rely on
facts.
4. Guidance for Social Reform
He believed that by understanding social laws, we can build a more peaceful and
progressive world.
Criticisms of Comte’s Theory
Of course, no theory is perfect. Critics have raised several points:
1. Too Simplistic – Society’s development is not always linear or uniform. Different
societies may not pass through the same stages.
2. Ignores Overlap – Even in modern times, religion and science often coexist.
3. Eurocentric View – His idea mainly reflects the Western world’s history, not all
cultures.
4. Unscientific Classification – Ironically, his classification of stages isn’t based on
scientific proof but on observation and reasoning.
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Still, despite these criticisms, Comte’s contribution remains revolutionary.
Conclusion
The journey from faith to reason, from myth to science, and from belief to knowledge
— that’s what Auguste Comte’s Law of Three Stages is all about.
He showed that human understanding grows like a living being — first believing blindly,
then questioning deeply, and finally reasoning scientifically.
Comte’s dream was a world where people live guided by facts, love, and reason — a
world of peace, order, and progress.
Even today, his ideas remind us that progress begins in the mind — the more we learn
to think rationally and compassionately, the brighter our future becomes.
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