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The document summarizes the positivist theory of sociology and the notion of objectivity in the social sciences. It explains that positivism emerged in the 19th century and was developed by Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology. According to the positivist theory, society can be studied like nature and is governed by invariable natural laws. Emile Durkheim continued this positivist tradition by considering social facts as things subject to natural laws. However, the te
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
64 views2 pagesPositivist Theory
The document summarizes the positivist theory of sociology and the notion of objectivity in the social sciences. It explains that positivism emerged in the 19th century and was developed by Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology. According to the positivist theory, society can be studied like nature and is governed by invariable natural laws. Emile Durkheim continued this positivist tradition by considering social facts as things subject to natural laws. However, the te
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The positivist theory of sociology and the objectivity of the sciences
social
The issue of objectivity in the social sciences has generated within
sociology, philosophy, countless controversies articulated around the
positivist philosophical thought, with a solid foundation within sociology.
The roots of positivism
Positivism emerged in the 19th century, when scientific discoveries and
the technical advancements had increased the belief that man
could dominate nature, wanted to oppose the abstractions of theology and
metaphysics, the experimental method and the objective of science. This movement
Philosophical was created and assumed its basic traits thanks to the work of Auguste
Comte, founding father of sociology. His subsequent evolution went through various
stages and reworkings, among which critical positivism stands out and the
neopositivism or logical positivism, and it notably influenced the rise
of the analytical philosophy of the 20th century.
Fundamental postulates of positivist theory
the central idea of the positive movement is one evangelist simplicity: in
social sciences, just like natural sciences, are necessary
free oneself from prejudices and assumptions, separate judgments from
fact of value judgments, the science of ideology. The end of the sociologist or
The historian's goal should be to achieve serene, impartial, and objective neutrality.
specific to the physicist, the chemist, and the biologist.
Comtean positivism is founded in two essential premises
closely linked.
1- Society can be epistemologically assimilated to nature (what
we will call "positivist naturalism") there is a natural harmony in social life.
2- Society is governed by natural laws, that is, by unchanging laws,
independent of human will and action.
Like the Committee, Durkheim will be the true guide of thought in the
modern positivist sociology. Its sociological naturalism is of origin
Comte, as explicitly recognized in The Rules of the Method
Sociological. The first rule and the most fundamental is to consider the facts.
social things (...) Committee, it is true, I proclaim that the phenomena
Social phenomena are natural facts subject to natural laws.
The fundamental ideas of positivist sociological theory explained.
we will establish the basic criticisms of positivism;
His fundamental error is the lack of knowledge of the Methodological specialty.
of social sciences in relation to natural sciences.
2. The non-recognition of the historical nature of social phenomena,
susceptible to being transformed by the action of men.
3. It ignores the partial identity between the subject and the object of knowledge, to
reduce the actors to passive entities determined by natural forces.
They do not take into account that social problems are the subject of
antagonistic views of different social classes.
