Positivism

Question 1

What is it about?

Answer 1

-Producing meaningful knowledge on empirical methods
Facts
Sensory experiences
- A construct needs to operationalizable
Cant be measured or observed directly = useless information
- It rejects theology and metaphysics
Problematic for psychology

Question 2

August Come

Answer 2

• Introduced this theory
• Science purpose - map the world how it works

Question 3

Three developmental stages

Answer 3

• Theological Stage
  Religious explanations dominate
• Metaphysical Stage
  Philosophical explanations dominate
• Positivity Stage
  Scientific explanations based on observation and experimentation to find regularities - to predict or influence the future

Question 4

Pure Empiricism

Answer 4

• All knowledge from objective collection of empirical facts

Question 5

Unity of Science

Answer 5

• A shared methodology and language

Question 6

Scientific Social Development

Answer 6

• For the good of society
  Progress mankind

Question 7

Verifiable criteria

Answer 7

• A sentence to be true if there is something that shows it
  Disregard things that goes against it?

Question 8

Induction problem

Answer 8

• Does not guarentee valid inferences or conclusions
  Its not the truth
  Trying to predict the future
• Can you derive common theories from observations?
  Can we observe everyone all the time?
• Not that objective, has to rely on some other knowledge
• Is it logical?
  “It has worked before”

Question 9

Hume

Answer 9

• Distinguished between relations and matter of facts
• Language itself does not make inductive inferences valid
• The premises are the conclusion, so what is new?

Question 10

A holistic approach

Answer 10

• Testing of hypotheses to sense-experiences does not occur one at a time
• Help assumptions to conduct science
• The result doesnt have to necessarily stay true to the observation

Question 11

Other mistakes with positivism

Answer 11

• What method to conduct science with
  What makes one more scientific than the other?
• Good to strive for matter-of-factness
  Impossible to stay 100% neutral
• Support hypotheses and result that is against majority
  What is not useful today might be useful tomorrow

Question 12

Unity in all science?

Answer 12

• Is it even possible? Should we strive for it in the first place?
  Psychology isnt the same as Physics
• Use of the same vocabular
  Translating psychology to material things?
  Is everything observable?
  Complex emotions
  Same for every culture?