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Positivism and its vicissitudes: The role of faith in the social sciences
Author(s) -
Kilborne Benjamin
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6696(199210)28:4<352::aid-jhbs2300280404>3.0.co;2-2
Subject(s) - positivism , logical positivism , faith , empiricism , pragmatism , doctrine , epistemology , subject (documents) , sociology , certainty , philosophy , social science , theology , library science , computer science
Positivism is a subject about which much is said, yet little understood. Of central importance for the history of the social and behavioral sciences, Postivism appears in widely various guises: as logical positivism of the Vienna School, as a sort of anti‐theoretical empiricism against which many theoreticians have railed, and as a doctrine of faith for the regeneration of a broken society. Concentrating on the latter, the author inquires into the development of Positivism in nineteenth‐century France in the writings of Saint‐Simon, Comte, and Durkheim, all of whom emphasized the role of faith in determining certainty, or, at the very least, in keeping doubt at bay. The thinking of these French Positivists is then linked with the pragmatism of William James.