---
title: "Positivism"
chunk: 8/8
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:58:26.231974+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Any sound scientific theory, whether of time or of any other concept, should in my opinion be based on the most workable philosophy of science: the positivist approach put forward by Karl Popper and others. According to this way of thinking, a scientific theory is a mathematical model that describes and codifies the observations we make. A good theory will describe a large range of phenomena on the basis of a few simple postulates and will make definite predictions that can be tested. ... If one takes the positivist position, as I do, one cannot say what time actually is. All one can do is describe what has been found to be a very good mathematical model for time and say what predictions it makes.

== See also ==
Cliodynamics
Científico
Charvaka
Determinism
Gödel's incompleteness theorems
London Positivist Society
Nature versus nurture
Physics envy
Scientific politics
Sociological naturalism
The New Paul and Virginia
Vladimir Solovyov

== Notes ==

== References ==
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Annan, Noel. 1959. The Curious Strength of Positivism in English Political Thought. London: Oxford University Press.
Ardao, Arturo. 1963. "Assimilation and Transformation of Positivism in Latin America." Journal of the History of Ideas 24 (4):515–22.
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Bevir, Mark. 2011. The Making of British Socialism. Princeton. PA: Princeton University Press.
Bourdeau, Michel. 2006. Les trois états: Science, théologie et métaphysique chez Auguste Comte. Paris: Éditions du Cerf.
Bourdeau, Michel, Mary Pickering, and Warren Schmaus, eds. 2018. Love, Order and Progress. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Bryant, Christopher G. A. 1985. Positivism in Social Theory and Research. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Claeys, Gregory. 2010. Imperial Sceptics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Claeys, Gregory. 2018. "Professor Beesly, Positivism and the International: the Patriotism Issue." In "Arise Ye Wretched of the Earth": The First International in a Global Perspective, edited by Fabrice Bensimon, Quinton Deluermoz and Jeanne Moisand. Leiden: Brill.
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LeGouis, Catherine. Positivism and Imagination: Scientism and Its Limits in Emile Hennequin, Wilhelm Scherer and Dmitril Pisarev. Bucknell University Press. London: 1997.
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"Positivism." Marxists Internet Archive. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.
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Richard Rorty (1982). Consequences of Pragmatism.
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Wunderlich, Roger. 1992. Low Living and High Thinking at Modern Times, New York. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Zea, Leopoldo. 1974. Positivism in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press.

== External links ==

The full text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Positivism" at Wikisource
Parana, Brazil
Porto Alegre, Brazil Archived 24 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Posnan, Poland
Positivists Worldwide
Maison d'Auguste Comte, France