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positivism
5 dictionary results for: Positivism
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
pos·i·tiv·ism       [poz-i-tuh-viz-uhm] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.the state or quality of being positive; definiteness; assurance.
2.a philosophical system founded by Auguste Comte, concerned with positive facts and phenomena, and excluding speculation upon ultimate causes or origins.
[Origin: 1850–55; positive + -ism]

—Related forms
pos·i·tiv·ist, adjective, noun
pos·i·tiv·is·tic, adjective
pos·i·tiv·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pos·i·tiv·ism       (pŏz'ĭ-tĭ-vĭz'əm)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. Philosophy
    1. A doctrine contending that sense perceptions are the only admissible basis of human knowledge and precise thought.
    2. The application of this doctrine in logic, epistemology, and ethics.
    3. The system of Auguste Comte designed to supersede theology and metaphysics and depending on a hierarchy of the sciences, beginning with mathematics and culminating in sociology.
    4. Any of several doctrines or viewpoints, often similar to Comte's, that stress attention to actual practice over consideration of what is ideal: "Positivism became the 'scientific' base for authoritarian politics, especially in Mexico and Brazil" (Raymond Carr).
  2. The state or quality of being positive.

pos'i·tiv·ist, pos'i·tiv·is'tic adj., pos'i·tiv·ist n.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
positivism

noun
1. the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation) 
2. a quality or state characterized by certainty or acceptance or affirmation and dogmatic assertiveness [syn: positivity] [ant: negativeness] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
positivism

An approach to philosophy frequently found in the twentieth century. Positivists usually hold that all meaningful statements must be either logical inferences or sense descriptions, and they usually argue that the statements found in metaphysics, such as ®ÄúHuman beings are free®Äù or ®ÄúHuman beings are not free,®Äù are meaningless because they cannot possibly be verified by the senses.


The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Positivism

Pos"i*tiv*ism\, n. A system of philosophy originated by M. Auguste Comte, which deals only with positives. It excludes from philosophy everything but the natural phenomena or properties of knowable things, together with their invariable relations of coexistence and succession, as occurring in time and space. Such relations are denominated laws, which are to be discovered by observation, experiment, and comparison. This philosophy holds all inquiry into causes, both efficient and final, to be useless and unprofitable.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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