Positivism

Research papers on positivism include the background of this psychological theory, its main tenets and how it is regarded today in light of recent psychological theories. You can have a paper written on positivism by a psychology writer or a sociology writer at Paper Masters.

Auguste Comte, the founder of positivism, believed that man's intellectual development consisted of three phases:

1. Theological
2. Metaphysical
3. Positive

The positive phase consists of the study of observable facts and deductive reasoning leading to the development of descriptive laws. Positivism in sociology is the extension of this scientific method to the social world.That is, the social world is to be studied through exactly the same methods as is the natural world.

The positivist seeks to describe cause-and-effect relationships in human society much as the physicist describes such relationships between material objects. Also in analogy to (19th century) natural science, the positivist insists on the objectivity of the observer. Any introduction of bias or values into sociological inquiry will invalidate any findings.

Positivists believed that the task of the sociologist was to observe, quantify, identify regularities, and test theories of social action. For them, the only legitimate subjects of sociology were those aspects of the social world that are observable. If non-observable phenomena - self-consciousness or any other subjective experience, for example - were to be permitted as a subject of study, then the condition of objectivity would be violated and any resulting theory would not be testable by empirical means.

Positivism is the theory that theism is not a viable set of ideologies because they cannot be proven from a scientific perspective. This philosophy focuses only on those theories or assertions that can be verified through scientific process. Thus, what cannot be seen or that which is not tangible, cannot be verified. If it cannot be verified, then it is rejected within the parameters of positivism. This philosophy was created by Auguste Comte and speaks to the acquisition of knowledge outside of anything that can be proven empirically. As a philosophy, it does not ascribe to natural phenomena and is an applicable theory to just about any entity. Social scientists have used positivism to explain social norms and behaviors as a means of relying on scientific evidence as a requirement for backing up social theories.

It is a controversial philosophy because of the deep-rooted theistic aspects of global society. Millions of people globally subscribe to religious ideologies that cannot be proven through scientific explanation. Rather the contrary, theology contradicts many elements of science particularly when it comes to issues like evolution versus creation. Thus, positivism dismisses theism altogether, because nothing about theistic principles can be proven with scientific evidence. All of theism is a faith-based approach with no empirical evidence to back up claims within these philosophies.