A philosophy that denies our knowledge of the Real and affirms our ignorance of the Apparent. Its longest exponent is Comte, its broadest Mill and its thickest Spencer.
A system of philosophy originated by M. Auguste Comte, which deals only with positives. It excludes from philosophy everything but the natural phenomena or properties of knowable things, together with their invariable relations of coexistence and succession, as occurring in time and space. Such relations are denominated laws, which are to be discovered by observation, experiment, and comparison. This philosophy holds all inquiry into causes, both efficient and final, to be useless and unprofitable.
A philosophy of science which was proposed originally by August Comte in the early 19th century. Its primary purpose was to distinguish science from metaphysics and religion. Broadly, it accepts that: (a) scientific statements should be based on empirical observations and facts; (b) the (quantitative mostly) methods of the natural sciences can be extended to the study of social phenomena; (c) general, universal laws is the ultimate goal of scientific inquiry; i.e. the search for empirical regularities, for "law" and "order".
(p. 13) a way of understanding based on science
The philosophy that rights are bestowed by government rather than pre-existing or intrinsic. The principal philosophical premise of Abortionism.
in its looser sense has come to mean an approach to social enquiry that emphasizes the discovery of laws of society, often involving an empiricist commitment to naturalism and quantitative methods. The word has become almost a term of abuse amongst social and cultural researchers, losing its philosophical connotations where its meaning is both more complex and precise.
A doctrine in the philosophy of science, positivism is characterised mainly by an insistence that science can only deal with observable entities known directly to experience. The positivist aims to construct general laws, or theories, which express relationships between phenomena. Observation and experiment will then show whether the phenomena do or do not fit the theory; explanation of phenomena consists in showing that they are instances of the general laws or regularities.
Taking a 'positive' approach to research and using scientific approaches. Positivism
A philosophical approach to research, adopting 'scientific' and rigerous methods. The approach is influenced by the researcher's ontological and epistemological positions, in other words, their views on reality and the independence of the researcher in relation to knowledge.
the restriction of philosophy to problems open to scientific methods.
The belief in the primacy of "positive" facts, excluding any speculation. Henceforth, the only kind of legitimate knowledge is "scientific."
The belief that only those objects or events that can be experienced directly should be the obhect of scientific inquiry. The positivist actively avoids metaphysical speculations.
Philosophy stating that humans can know only what is based on observable, scientific facts or on data derived from experience.
In criminology, 'positivism' has two meanings. (1) Specifically, it refers to the evolutionary assumptions and scientific methods of the ' positivist school' of criminology. (2) More generally, it is used to characterize all approaches to criminology that are primarily concerned with questions of etiology, and which believe that social phenomena can and should be explained in the manner of the natural sciences. And the origins of the term? Talk to Comte. "
A philosophy that contends that theology and metaphysics are earlier imperfect modes of knowledge and that positive knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations as verified by the empirical sciences.
a philosophical view which recognizes only those things that can be empirically verified, or known directly by observation.
A form of naturalism which denies the legitimacy of philosophical problems and methods and claims that science is the only knowledge which is exact and ultimate.
A belief that ethical assertions (which are rational) can be scientifically verified or logically proven.
Treats human experience and people like objects. All knowledge and truth is based on empirical and factual evidence. It is a system of philosophy originated by Auguste Compte in which observable facts are scientific and unobservables are subjective and speculative, and therefore unscientific.
A widespread trend in bourgeois philosophy and sociology, founded by Comte (1798-1857), a French philosopher and sociologist. The positivists deny the possibility of knowing inner regularities and relations and deny the significance of philosophy as a method of knowing and changing the objective world. They reduce philosophy to a summary of the data provided by the various branches of science and to a superficial description of the results of direct observation -- i.e., to "positive" facts. Positivism considers itself to be "above" both materialism and idealism but it is actually nothing more than a variety of subjective idealism. Positivism claims to be neutral and above philosophical outlooks, interested in processes but not willing to go beyond the boundaries of the status quo. In effect they confirm the maintenance of existing social structures.
positivism is characterised by the belief in an independent external world that can be known and described through the methods of science, which are held to be objective and value-free.
An idealistic current which believes in "positive" facts rather than abstract deductions. It denies that philosophy is a world outlook and states that belief should be concentrated on a description of facts rather than an analysis of them. Positivism claims to be neutral and above philosophical outlooks, interested in processes but not willing to go beyond the boundaries of the status quo. In effect they confirm the maintenance of existing social structures.
French philosophy based on observation and scientific approach to problems of society; adopted by many Latin American liberals in the aftermath of independence. (p. 766)
A philosophical point of view that science is the only basis for truth and that nothing is knowable that goes beyond the facts and laws determined by science.
A belief that the world can best be understood through scientific inquiry.