And he anticipated Comte's
famous "law" of the three stages of intellectual evolution, though
without giving it the extensive and fundamental significance which
Comte claimed for it. "Before man understood the causal connection
of physical phenomena, nothing was so natural as to suppose they
were produced by intelligent beings, invisible and resembling
ourselves; for what else would they have resembled?" That is Comte's
theological stage. "When philosophers recognised the absurdity of
the fables about the gods, but had not yet gained an insight into
natural history, they thought to explain the causes of phenomena by
abstract expressions such as essences and faculties." That is the
metaphysical stage. "It was only at a later period, that by
observing the reciprocal mechanical action of bodies hypotheses were
formed which could be developed by mathematics and verified by
experience." There is the positive stage. The observation assuredly
does not possess the far-reaching importance which Comte attached to
it; but whatever value it has, Turgot deserves the credit of having
been the first to state it.
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