Who originally propounded the theory of three stages of social development ?

Auguste Comte, the French philosopher known as the "Father of Sociology," propounded the Law of Three Stages in his work The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830–1842). He argued that human thought and society evolve through three distinct intellectual stages:

• Theological Stage: The human mind explains phenomena by attributing them to supernatural beings or divine intervention.
• Metaphysical Stage: Abstract forces or "nature" replace personified gods as the primary explanations.
• Positive (Scientific) Stage: The search for absolute causes is abandoned in favor of discovering the laws governing phenomena through observation and experimentation.

While Karl Marx proposed stages based on economic modes of production and Herbert Spencer focused on evolution from simple to complex, Comte's specific "three stages" framework is the foundational theory of social development.