1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Positivism

POSITIVISM (derived from ponere, whence positus, that which is laid down, certain), a philosophical term, applied somewhat loosely to any system which confines itself to the data of experience and declines to recognize a priori or metaphysical speculations. In this sense the term may be applied to empirical philosophers in general. Thus Hume is a positivist in the sense that he specifically restricts philosophy to the sphere of observation, and regards the causal relation as being nothing more than what we have been accustomed to expect. Similarly Mill, Spencer and physical scientists generally view the universe from the positivist standpoint. In its commonest acceptation, however, positivism is both narrower and wider than this. The term is specifically used of the philosophy of Auguste Comte, who applied the term to his system according to which knowledge is based exclusively on the methods and discoveries of the physical or &ldquo;positive&rdquo; sciences. According to Comte human thought passes through three stages &mdash; theological, metaphysical and positive. The final stage, positivism, is the understanding of the universe not as composed of a multitude of individuals each with volition, but as an ordered organism governed by necessary laws (see further ../Comte, Auguste). The outcome of this positivism is the substitution for revealed religion of a religion of humanity &mdash; according to Huxley &ldquo;Catholicism minus Christianity&rdquo; &mdash; in which God is replaced by Humanity. This religion was to have its special priesthood, ritual and organization.