Positivism

Positivism, a scientific method of approaching knowledge based on “positive” facts instead of just conjecture, is the name of Comte’s methodology. Comte was a positivist who thought society runs by its own rules, just as the physical world does by the laws of nature and other natural principles. Positivist ideas are formed from sensory experience via reason and logic.

The positivist viewpoint holds that all occurrences, regardless of their description, should be investigated scientifically. Comte emphasized that scientific results come from people due to people wanting to know things with certainty. The need to be able to improve things is what drives the pursuit of knowledge. Therefore, sociologists can provide ideas for social change that will result in a better society, according to sociological positivists, if scientific research standards are applied to studying society.

Comte defined positivism as a philosophy that held that the only authentic verifiable knowledge is scientific knowledge. Furthermore, this knowledge can only be obtained by positively endorsing hypotheses via a rigorous scientific methodology. As an approach to the philosophy of science derived from Enlightenment intellectuals like Pierre-Simon Laplace, his beliefs are often referred to as a scientific ideology. They are frequently embraced by technocrats who believe that vital development happens via scientific advancement.

Comte, who believed that the scientific method had replaced metaphysics in the history of thinking, provided the first comprehensive theory of positivism. Comte also noted how theory and observation in science are mutually reinforcing. Thus, Comte was crucial in developing the social evolutionist school of thinking. According to anthropological evolutionism, positivism is the most advanced stage of civilization and the time when science and logical justifications for scientific phenomena emerge. Marxism and predictive dialectics provide a very positivist theoretical framework.

Comte presented the crucial connection between theory, practice, and human comprehension of the universe in his exposition of Positive philosophy. Every theory must be grounded on observable facts, according to Comte. However, it is also true that facts cannot be observed without the aid of some theory. With this direction of a theory, study findings would be worthwhile and effective.