Final answer:
Auguste Comte theorized that societies develop through three stages: Theological, Metaphysical, and Positivist, progressively moving from supernatural explanations to scientific reasoning and empirical evidence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The French philosopher Auguste Comte is renowned for his contributions to sociology, particularly his theory on the progression of society through three distinct stages. These stages represent the evolution of human thought and the culmination of society's scientific understanding.
In the first stage, known as the Theological Stage, society attributes phenomena to supernatural forces. Here, religious explanations for the workings of the world prevail. The second stage is the Metaphysical Stage, where abstract philosophical reasoning takes precedence, although some supernatural influences are acknowledged. Comte's third stage, the Positivist Stage, marks a significant shift. In this stage, society rejects religious and metaphysical explanations in favor of rational scientific inquiry, adhering only to knowledge founded on empirical evidence and logical positivism.
These stages highlight the transformation from a pre-scientific society to one engaged in the scientific study of the natural world and human interactions. Comte saw this as an important path towards a peaceful and progressive society. His conceptualization of sociology as a science capable of driving human progress was seminal in establishing sociology as an empirical discipline.