Positivism holds that authoritative knowledge can only come from logical, mathematical, and empirical evidence from the senses. It rejects metaphysics and introspection. Positivism was developed by Auguste Comte in the 19th century and argues that society, like the physical world, operates according to observable laws. Post-positivism rejects the central tenets of positivism and believes that while reality exists independently, our observations are theory-laden and fallible, so objective knowledge requires triangulating across multiple perspectives.

1.  It’s a rejection of metaphysics (abstract truths, nature of
existence etc.)
 It is a position that holds that the goal of knowledge is
simply to describe the phenomena that we experience.
Positivism

2.  Positivism is the philosophy of science that information
derived from logical and mathematical treatments and
reports of sensory experience is the exclusive source of
all authoritative knowledge.
Positivism

3.  Verified data received from the senses is known as
empirical evidence.
Positivism

4.  Positivism holds that society, like the physical world,
operates according to general laws. Introspective and
intuitive knowledge is rejected.
Positivism

5.  Although the positivist approach has been a recurrent
theme in the history of western thought, the modern
sense of the approach was developed by the
philosopher and founding sociologist Auguste Comte in
the early 19th century. Comte argued that, much as the
physical world operates according to gravity and other
absolute laws, so also does society.
Positivism

6.  Positivists hold that since the purpose of science is
simply to stick to what we can observe and measure,
knowledge of anything beyond that is impossible.
 The world and the universe are operated by laws of
cause and effect.
Positivism

7.  The positivists believed in empiricism – the idea that
observation and measurement was the core of the scientific
endeavor.
 That the key approach of the scientific method is the
experiment, the attempt to discern natural laws through direct
manipulation and observation.
 A strong form of empiricism, esp as established in the
philosophical system of Comte, that rejects metaphysics and
theology as seeking knowledge beyond the scope of
experience, and holds that experimental investigation and
observation are the only sources of substantial knowledge.
Positivism

8. Positivism
 Positivism is a way of thinking
developed by Auguste Comte
and is 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.
 Positivism also argues that
social life should be built in
a rigid, linear, and
methodical way on a base
of verifiable fact. It has had
relatively little influence on
contemporary sociology,
however, because it is
argued that it encourages a
misleading emphasis on
superficial facts without any
attention to underlying
mechanisms that cannot be
observed.

9.  Post-positivism is not just slight adjustment to or
revision of the positivist position.
 It is a wholesale rejection of the central tenets of
positivism.
Positivism & Post Positivism

10.  One of the most common forms of post-positivism is a
philosophy called critical realism. A critical realist
believes that there is a reality independent of our
thinking about it that science can study.
Post-positivism

11.  Positivists were also realists. The difference is
that the post-positivist critical realist recognizes
that all observation is fallible and has error and
that all theory is revisable. In other words, the
critical realist is critical of our ability to know
reality with certainty.
Post-positivism

12.  The post-positivist emphasizes the importance
of multiple measures and observations, each of
which may possess different types of error, and
the need to use triangulation across these
multiple erroneous sources to try to get a better
bead on what's happening in reality.
Post-positivism

13.  Most post-positivists are constructivists who
believe that we each construct our view of the
world based on our perceptions of it. Because
perception and observation is fallible, our
constructions must be imperfect.
Post-positivism

14.  Positivists believed that objectivity was a
characteristic that resided in the individual
scientist. Scientists are responsible for putting
aside their biases and beliefs and seeing the
world as it 'really' is. Post-positivists reject the
idea that any individual can see the world
perfectly as it really is. We are all biased and all
of our observations are affected (theory-laden).
Post-positivists on objectivity

15.  Our best hope for achieving objectivity is to triangulate
across multiple fallible perspectives! Thus, objectivity is not
the characteristic of an individual, it is inherently a social
phenomenon. It is what multiple individuals are trying to
achieve when they criticize each other's work. We never
achieve objectivity perfectly, but we can approach it. The
best way for us to improve the objectivity of what we do is
to do it within the context of a broader contentious
community of truth-seekers (including other scientists) who
criticize each other's work.
Post-positivists on objectivity

16.  We never achieve objectivity perfectly, but we
can approach it. The best way for us to improve
the objectivity of what we do is to do it within
the context of a broader contentious
community of truth-seekers (including other
scientists) who criticize each other's work.
Post-positivists on objectivity