27-4-2009

QUE) Elucidate the positivist view of scientific study? To what extent

was Behaviouralism influenced by positivism?
ANS) Positivitism is the philosophy that the only authentic
knowledge is the knowledge based on actual sense experience.
Such knowledge can only come from affirmation of theories through
strict scientific method. Metaphysical speculation is avoided.
Though the positivist approach can be traced back to the beginning
of scientific method in Ibn-al Haythams Book of Optics, the
concept was first coined by August Comte, widely considered the
first modern sociologist. As an approach to the philosophy of
sciences deriving from enlighten thinkers like Pierre Simon Laplace
and many others, positivism was first systematically theorized by
Comte, who saw the scientific method as replacing metaphysics in
history of thought and who observed the curricular dependence of
theory and observation in science. Comte was thus one of the
leading thinkers of the social evolutionism thought.
According to Comte, society undergoes three different phases in its
quest for truth according to the aptly named, Law of Three Stages.
The first phase or the Theological phase of man is based on whole
hearted belief in all things with reference to God. The theological
phase deals with human kind accepting the doctrines of the place
of worship and not questioning the world. Comte describes the
metaphysical phase of humanity as the time since the
enlightenment, a time steeped in logical rationalism to the time
right after the French Revolution. The second phase states that the
universal rights of humanity are most important. The central idea is
that humanity is born with certain rights that should not and cannot
be taken away. The final stage of the trilogy of Comtes Universal
Law is the scientific stage. The central theme of this phase is the
idea that individual rights are more important that the rule of any
person. Comte stated the idea that humanity is able to govern itself
is what makes this stage innately different from the rest. The idea
of progress of society from theological to positive phase was central
to Comtes new science ie; Sociology would lead to the historical
consideration of every science because the history of one
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science, including pure political history would make no sense

unless they were attached to the study of general progress of all
humanity. As Comte would say; from science comes prediction,
from prediction comes action.
Comtes ideas of scientific study have intrigued many including,
Wilhelm Scherer, Dimitri Pisarev, Emile Zola. Dimitri Pisarev was a
Russian publist who showed greatest contradiction with his belief in
positivism. His basic belief was an extreme anti-aesthetic scientist
position. His efforts were focused on defining the relation between
literature and environment.
The 1930s scholars Charles Merriam and E M Saits, from the
University of Chicago stated that emphasis should be laid on the
scientific study of politics. In Saits word the aim should be to turn
the study of politics into a branch of positive science. The early
20th Century witnessed an immense focus on scientific methods put
into use to tackle various societal and political problems. For the
said cause many intellectuals including; Mill, Tocqueville, Marx,
Weber, H Spencer were pioneering the development of political
sociology, anthropology and psychology in which they moved the
study of politics into a self consciously explanatory mode.
Stephen Hawking, a modern positivist and Quantum Physicist writes
in his popular opinion The Universe in a Nut Shell (Pg-31); Any
sound scientific theory whether of time or of any concept, should in
my opinion be based on the most workable philosophy of science:
the positivist approach put forward by Friedrich Hayek and Karl
Popper. According to this way of thinking, a scientific theory is a
mathematical model that describes and codifies the observation we
make. If one takes positivist position as I do, one cannot say that
time actually is. All one can do is describe what has been found to
be very good mathematical model for time and say what prediction
it takes.
However the claim that Popper was a positivist was a common
misunderstanding that Popper himself termed The Popper
Legend. On the other hand modern Continental Philosophers like;
Theodore Adorno, Jurgen Habermas regard Popper as a positivist
because of his devotion to a unified science.
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One of the most important aspects of scientific methodology

brought onto frequent utilization was the use of Sampling Theory
and Statistical analysis, in studying the vote and political behavior
of the political mass. This method has also helped to maximize
The Ballot Initiative during the Election Festival in many of the
democratic countries including our own, but still there is more to be
done.