Some theories related to Positivism, Logical Positivism, and the Empirical Cycle

1. POSITIVISM,
LOGICAL POSITIVISM,
AND
THE EMPIRICAL CYCLE
Presented by : RiA Renyta Monica novi
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2. 2
o Biography of Auguste Comte
o Positivism Theory and Positivism Research Procedures
o Community Development Stage
o The Assumptions of the Scientific Method and the Effects of
Positivism
o The Weaknesses of Positivism
o Logical Positivism Definition
o Logical Positivism Figures and Their Thoughts
o The Vienna Circle
o Community Development according to Logical Positivism
o Two Ideas Which Influences Logical Positivism
o The Characteristics of Analytic Philosophy
o Verifiability Principle
o The Empirical Cycle
o Logical Positivism, Critical Rationalism, and Critical Theory
o Wittgenstein I & Wittgenstein II
o Critical Analysis of Positivism and Logical Positivism
Outline

3. Biography of Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte was born on
January 19th in Montpellier,
southern France in 1798, and
died in the city of Paris,
September 5th, 1857.
Comte studied at the polytechnic
from 1814-1816 in the city of
Paris and became secretary to
Saint-Simon in 1817.
Comte was secretary to Saint-
Simon (a utopian socialist) for
several years and he befriended
J. S. Milll
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4. ✖ Together with Saint-
Simon, Comte published
the Plan of The Scientific
Works Necessary for the
Reorganization of Society
✖ Comte completed a
number of writings (his
lecture material) which
he had compiled for 12
years (from 1830 - 1842).
The lecture material is
recorded in 6 volumes
and entitled Course de
Philosophie Positive.
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✖ Comte's idea of “The
Humanity Religion”
which is a religion that
based on positivism and
human values.
✖ Comte (Positivism) tries
to free metaphysical
claims from science.
Past facts are seen as
different from values;
facts can be separated
from values.

5. The term “Positive” is used frequently in
Comte's writings, which the same as his
positivist philosophy. Positivist facts are
“real facts” or “the real” A positive fact is
something that cannot be verified or verify
by anyone (who wants to prove it).
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6. Positivism Theory and Positivism Research
Procedures
✖ In nature there are known laws.
✖ The cause of the existence of objects
in nature cannot be known
✖ Every statement which in principle
cannot be returned to facts has no real
meaning and does not make sense.
✖ Only the relationship between facts
can be known
✖ Intellectual development is the main
cause of social change
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7. The empirical - experimental research
procedure of Positivism
Observation:
researching and
looking for
relationships
between facts,
then reviewing
the laws of statics
and dynamics.
Experiment:
social phenomena
in a certain way
are intervened by
in a certain way.
Comparison:
In sociology the
comparative study
can be carried out
between
societies/cultures
(anthropological
studies) or
between two
periods in a
particular society
(historical
sociology).
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8. Community Development Stage
I
(Theological Stage)
II
(Metaphysical Stage)
III
(Positivism Stage)
Stage of
Knowledge
Fictitious
Knowledge
Metaphysical
Knowledge
Scientific
Knowledge
Foundation of
Beliefs
Faith & Custom Philosophy Rational Logic
Social Base Family State Humanity
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9. The Assumptions of the Scientific Method and the Effects of
Positivism
 That there are events or phenomena that occur repeatedly.
 Science is superior to ignorance.
 There is a belief that experience provides a reliable basis for the
truth of science.
 There are orders of causality in natural and social and human
phenomena.
 There are assumptions relating to observers:
• The urge to acquire knowledge
• Observers / researchers are able to draw the essence of the
researched phenomenon.
• The scientific community supports the empirical method as
the basis of the seek knowledge.
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10. 10
Positivism INFLUENCE
 Auguste Comte's views have influenced the categories of thought
in the scientific world more deeply .
 Comte (Positivism) influences the views of modern society on
the foundations of science, objectivity and truth, cultural
evolution and progress, and history.
 Comte's view of the purpose of science as social control has
influenced planning as well as science such as the psychology of
behaviorism.
 Positivism is influenced by the presence of the term positivism in
various fields.

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The Weaknesses of Positivism
Positivism has reduced reality to observed facts and this has
eliminated other dimensions and perspectives (the dimension of the
subject).
Positivism does not recognize the contingency, relativity and
historicity of the human mind (ratio).
Positivism's view of uniformity and the unity of natural law (grand
theory) cannot explain cultural diversity and human uniqueness.
The positivism belief that science only leads to prosperity and
welfare turns out to be wrong.

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Logical Positivism/
Analytic Philosophy
and The Vienna
Circle

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Logical Positivism
Logical positivism is a form of positivism developed by
members of Vienna Circle around 1924, which considers
that the only meaningful philosophical problems are those
which can be solved by logical analysis.
Logical positivists primarily were against metaphysics.
They said that any statement that wasn’t either a formal
statement (a statement of logic or mathematics ) or one
that was empirically testable was simply nonsensical.
Logical positivism is the direct result of the revision of
positivism through the years.

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Positivism
When we use our
five senses; taste,
touch, sight, smell,
and sound, to
determine truth.
Logical Positivism
When we use our five
senses; taste, touch,
smell, sight, and
sound, plus we use
logic or mathematics
to determine truth.
.
Positivism Vs Logical Positivism

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Logical Positivism
Figures and Their
Thoughts

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Alfred Jules Ayer
A British philosopher, an educator, and
a leading representative of logical
positivism through his widely read work
Language, Truth, and Logic (1936).
Although Ayer’s views changed
considerably after the 1930s, becoming
more moderate and increasingly subtle,
he remained loyal to empiricism,
convinced that all knowledge of the
world derives from sense experience
and that nothing in experience justifies
a belief in God or in any other
extravagant metaphysical entity.

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Gottlob Frege
Gottlob Frege was a German logician,
mathematician and philosopher who played
a crucial role in the emergence of modern
logic and analytic philosophy. His theory of
meaning, especially his distinction between
the sense and reference of linguistic
expressions, was groundbreaking in
semantics and the philosophy of language.
He had a profound and direct influence on
such thinkers as Russell, Carnap and
Wittgenstein. Frege is often called the
founder of modern logic, and he is
sometimes even heralded as the founder of
analytic philosophy.

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George Edward Moore
G. E. Moore was a highly influential
British philosopher of the early twentieth
century. Moore’s approach to
philosophizing involved focusing on
narrow problems and avoiding grand
synthesis. This aspect of his
philosophical style was sufficiently novel
and conspicuous that many saw it as an
innovation in philosophical methodology.
In virtue of this, Moore, along with
Bertrand Russell, is widely
acknowledged as a founder of analytic
philosophy.

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Bertrand Russel
Bertrand Russell was a British
philosopher, logician, essayist and social
critic best known for his work in
mathematical logic and analytic
philosophy. Together with G.E. Moore,
Russell is generally recognized as one of
the founders of modern analytic
philosophy. His famous paradox, theory
of types and work with A.N. Whitehead
on Principia Mathematica invigorated the
study of logic throughout the twentieth
century.

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Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the most
influential philosophers of the twentieth
century, and regarded by some as the most
important since Immanuel Kant. Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus was the only
philosophy book that Wittgenstein published
during his lifetime. It claimed to solve all the
major problems of philosophy and was held
in especially high esteem by the anti-
metaphysical logical positivists. The
Tractatus is based on the idea that
philosophical problems arise from
misunderstandings of the logic of language,
and it tries to show what this logic is.

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Two Rational Language Models according to Logical
Positivists
Analytic Propositions
Analytic propositions are true solely by virtue of their
meaning. This includes mathematical statements, where
the truth of a statement is contained in the terms.
E.g., All bachelors are unmarried men.
7 + 5 = 12
Synthetic Propositions
Synthetic propositions are true based on how their
meaning relates to the world.
E.g., All bachelors are bald.

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The Vienna Circle
The Vienna Circle was formed in the city of Vienna shortly after
World War One.
Among Vienna Circle’s members were: M. Schlick, Rudolf Carnap,
H. Feigl, P. Frank, K. Gödel, H. Hahn, V. Kraft, O. Neurath, F.
Waismann.
In 1929 Hahn, Neurath, and Carnap published the manifesto of the
circle: Wissenschaftliche Weltauffassung. Der Wiener Kreis (A
scientific world-view. The Vienna Circle).
Between 1928 and 1937, the Vienna Circle published ten books in a
series named Schriften zur wissenschaftlichen Weltauffassung
(Papers on the Scientific Worldview).

23. 23
Community development according to
logical positivism
Logical positivism needs
unified science
Knowledge is constructed
by logic of science

24. 24
Two ideas
which influence logical
positivism

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Empiricism
views experiments
or experience
(observation) as
the basis for the
ideas. Positivism
is based on things
that can be seen
or proved, rather
than on ideas.

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THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANALYTIC
PHILOSOPHY
Milton D. Hunnex concludes logical
positivism as below:
a) Philosophy is analytic logic through
concept and knowledge statements
b) Someone’s ideas could be examined
through language, as long as the ideas
delivered through language
c) Daily language is misleading because the
language has reduction (translated) to
formal language

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THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ANALYTIC
PHILOSOPHY
d) The main task of philosophy is to correct the
grammar and syntax of the language and make
it appropriate to the function of the actual
logical.
e) Metaphysic is based on non-empiric beliefs
and internal relation so it is rejected.
f) Definitions have to be operational.
“Something unobserved and unmeasured are
meaningless” (Hunnex, 2004)

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VERIFIABILITY PRINCIPLE
Alfred Jules Ayer defines that proposition is
meaningful if it is verifiable or empirical
analyse.
They are two kinds: strong verifiable and soft
verifiable.
✖ Strong verifiable is a verifiability in facing
the statement with direct facts.
✖ Soft verifiable is a possibility to verify the
future knowledge because of the
development in knowledge and technology.

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THE MEANING OF VERIFIABILITY
Therefore, the meaning of verifiability are:
✖ One proposition is meaningful is the
proposition itself could be proven as right or
wrong
✖ There are some logic truth and factual truth
✖ Factual truth could be proved through
experience.

30. THE
EMPIRICAL CYCLE
(Walace 1990: 8)
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31. THE EMPIRICAL CYCLE (Walace 1990: 8)
According to Breggman, there are three pillars to construct scientific knowledge:
observation, induction, and deduction. They connect each other in a research process as
the empirical cycle. It can be used in science and social science.
Black
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32. LOGICAL POSITIVISM,
CRITICAL RATIONALISM &
Critical theory.
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33. Logical positivism
It started in the late 1920s. Philosophy and
science for logical positivist is the clarity of
language. Thus will be achieved when
scientific knowledge applied experimental-
empirical methods and factual or logical
language.
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34. Critical rationalism
Since the 1960s. Critical rationalists
propose different ideas. They hold that
knowledge is objective, and the truth is
objective (exists and really real). The
most influential philosopher of science
in that era was Karl Raimund Popper.
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35. Place your screenshot here
CRITICAL THEORY
Critical theorists maintain that a primary goal of
philosophy is to understand and to help overcome the
social structures through which people are dominated
and oppressed.
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36. Wittgenstein I
In 1912, the idea is
written in the Tractatus
Logico-Philosophicus.
Ludwig Wittgeinstein
viewed the role of
language as providing a
“picture of reality.” Truth
was seen as making
logical propositions that
correspond to reality.
Wittgenstein II
In 1953, the idea is written
in the Philosophical
Invesigation. He rejected the
use of one model language.
His new thoughts would be
better understood by
contrast with and against
the background of his old
thoughts. Its already known
as “ordinary language
philosophy”.
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37. The Meaning is the use
Language Analysis on Daily Use
Language-Games and Family Resemblance
1. Language must be understood as it is normally, not to be
artificial or ideal
2. There is no single language. Language has its own
meaning and use
3. Each language has its own rule.
4.The meaning of the language depends on the user
(in solving philosophical problems, an understanding of how language is
used is more important than its abstract meaning)
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38. Critical Analysis of Positivism and Logical Positivism
What is the
Different?
What is the
Aim?
Who is Behind
it?
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39. In a GLANCE
1. The main aim of positivism and logical positivism is to wipe
out philosophy and metaphysic, except the philosophy which is
the foundation for universal objective science (absolute)
2. Positivism is a kind of ontology realism that believed the
reality outside of the world is taken by causality. The purpose
of science is to find it out
3. Karl Raimund Popper is the most known for Post-Positivism.
He stated that there is no final theory, there will be additional
idea which bring better theory.
4. Another paradigm, which respects the differences and
uniqueness of socio-cultural phenomena, is always needed
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40. Remember:
"The meaning of a word depends on its use in a sentence, the meaning of
a sentence depends on its use in a language, and the meaning of a
language depends on its use in a life."
Any questions, comments,
clarifications?
Thanks!
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