Meaning & use
positivism
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Meanings
noununcountabletechnical
A philosophy holding that real knowledge comes only from observation, experiment and logic, not from guesses about things beyond experience.
Grammar: Used without an or an: positivism influenced early sociology.
Patterns
- positivism in something
Positivism shaped how early sociologists tried to study society.
Critics say positivism ignores the role of personal interpretation.
Her essay compares positivism with more interpretive approaches.
noununcountableformalrare
A cheerful, confident outlook that expects good outcomes; sometimes used instead of positivity.
Grammar: Less common than positivity, and mostly found in formal or older writing.
His positivism lifted the whole team during a hard season.
She admired the positivism of her grandmother.
Common combinations
- logical positivism
- Logical positivism developed in Vienna in the 1920s.
- scientific positivism
- Scientific positivism treats measurable facts as the basis of truth.
- legal positivism
- Legal positivism separates law from morality.
- reject positivism
- Many social theorists reject positivism.
- the rise of positivism
- The rise of positivism changed how research was done.
Synonyms and how they differ
- empiricism
- Empiricism stresses learning from experience, while positivism adds a stricter rule that only verifiable statements count as knowledge.
- scientism
- Scientism is usually a criticism, implying excessive trust in science, whereas positivism is a neutral name for the view.
- optimism
- Optimism is a mood about the future, not a theory of knowledge.
- positivity
- Positivity is the everyday word for a cheerful attitude, and it is far more common.
Opposites
Word family
- positivist noun/adjective
- A follower of positivism, or relating to it.
- positive adjective
- Certain, good, or based on fact.
- positivistic adjective
- Characteristic of positivism.
- post-positivism noun
- A later view that keeps scientific method but admits observation can be biased.
Commonly confused: positivism or word?
positivism vs word
note
Practice
A professor who insists that only measurable, observable facts count as real knowledge is defending ___.
Choose one answer.
Positivism says knowledge comes from observation and logic. Optimism is about attitude, and idealism puts ideas above material facts.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “positivism”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.