Positivism

Have you ever heard of the word positivism?. According to Wikipedia, positivism is a philosophy of science based on the view that information derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge, and that there is valid knowledge only in scientific knowledge.

In other word, Positivism is a way of thinking based on the assumption that it is possible to observe social life and establish reliable, valid knowledge about how it works. This knowledge can then be used to affect the course of social change and improve the human condition itself. Positivism as a term was introduced into the social sciences by Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who held that sociology should be scientific, thus it should deal only with hypotheses which were directly verifiable.

An example of the use of positivist methodology is Emile Durkheim's (1897) study Suicide. Within this study, Durkheim discovered social structural explanations for suicide, an act which is generally perceived as particularly individualised. He found that the level of social integration of an individual into society was a crucial factor in the prevention of suicide. Therefore he argued that those individuals who, for one reason or another, are socially excluded from society are more likely to commit suicide.

The founder of positivism, Auguste Comte, stated:

'No real observation of any kind of phenomena is possible, except in so far as it is first directed, and finally interpreted, by some theory.The positive philosophy does not dissolve this obligation, but, on the contrary, extends and fulfils it more and more, the further the relations of phenomena are multiplied and perfected by it. Hence it is clear.that science can only use those observations which are connected, at least hypothetically, with some law; that it is such a connection which makes the chief difference between scientific and popular observation'. (The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte (1830-42), (vol.2), translated by Harriet Martineau, 1896).