Positivism is a philosophical approach that states that genuine knowledge comes exclusively from empirical evidence and scientific methods. Originating in early 19th century France with thinkers such as Auguste Comte, it emphasises sensory experience and logical reasoning, rejecting intuition, religious beliefs and metaphysical insights. Positivists argue that only scientifically verifiable information constitutes valid knowledge, promoting a materialistic view that prioritises observable phenomena over spiritual or subjective experiences. A "Law[1] Comte's "Three Stages" describes the progression of human understanding from theological to metaphysical to positive stages, where scientific observation replaces speculative thought. Despite its widespread initial influence in various disciplines, positivism faced significant criticism for its reductionist methodology and inability to explain complex human experiences. The approach gradually declined as scholars recognised the importance of subjective factors and contextual nuances in understanding social and human phenomena.
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Positivism is a philosophical school that maintains that all genuine knowledge is true by definition or positive - that is, a posteriori facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience. Other forms of knowledge, such as intuition, introspection or religious faith, are rejected or considered meaningless.
Positivism defends the idea that the scientific knowledge is the only form of true knowledge. According to positivists, a theory can only be said to be correct if it has been proven through valid scientific methods. Positivists do not consider knowledge acquired through religious beliefs, superstition or any other field to be true. spiritual, intuitive or transcendentThey believe that there is nothing that can be scientifically proven. For them, the progress of humanity depends exclusively on scientific advances. Thus, the positivism developed in the second phase of Comte's career associates an interpretation of science and a knowledge to a ethics only human radical.
O positivism is a philosophical current that emerged in France at the beginning of the 19th century. The main creators of positivism were the thinkers Auguste Comte e John Stuart Mill. This philosophical school gained strength in Europe in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a concept which has different meanings, encompassing both philosophical and scientific perspectives of the 19th century and others from 20th century.
From its beginnings, with Auguste Comte (1798-1857) in the first half of the 19th centuryso far 21st centuryThe meaning of the word has changed radically, incorporating different meanings, many of them opposite or contradictory to each other. In this way, there are currents in other disciplines that consider themselves "positivist" without having anything to do with Comte's work. Paradigmatic examples of this are legal positivismby the Austrian Hans Kelsen, and the logical positivism (or Vienna Circle), from Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath and their associates.
For Comte, positivism is a doctrine philosophical, sociological e politics. It emerged as a sociological development of enlightenmentthe social and moral crises at the end of the Middle Ages and the birth of industrial societyprocesses that had as a major milestone the French Revolution (1789-1799). In general terms, he proposed completely human values for human existence, radically distancing the theology and metaphysics (although incorporating them into a philosophy of history).
Although the positivist approach has been a recurring theme in the history of Western thought, modern positivism was first articulated at the beginning of the 19th century by Auguste Comte. His school of sociological positivism held that society, like the physical world, operates according to general laws. After Comte, positivist schools emerged in logic, psychology, economics, historiography and other fields of thought. Generally, positivists tried to introduce scientific methods into their respective fields. Since the turn of the 20th century, positivism, although still popular, has fallen under criticism in parts of the social sciences from anti-positivists and critical theorists, among others, for its alleged scientism, reductionism, excessive generalisations and methodological limitations.
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