Positivism

Origins

The ideas of the positivism draw their source in certain formulations of D' Alembert and Turgot, like by their friends and pupils Lagrange and Condorcet.

One indeed sought as of second half of the 18th century to explain the Progrès human spirit (Condorcet) by the development of the " sciences positives" (Mathematical, Physical, Chemistry,…).

The philosophical current of positivism started to be structured in France in first half of the 19th century. This term was propagated by Saint-Simon (Claude Henri de Rouvroy, count of Saint-Simon) and still more popularized in Philosophie by Auguste Count, which worked narrowly with Saint-Simon, of which he was the secretary of 1817 with 1824.

Great historical stages

Scientific positivism of Auguste Count

Religious positivism of Auguste Count

Legal positivism

Logical positivism

Contemporary Neopositivism

In the contemporary context, one assimilates positivism and the Scientisme. One calls “neopositivism” a theory which is pure and simple a Scientisme.

The neopositivism preserved original positivism only the recourse to the facts like principle of demarcation between the direction and the nonsense. The neopositivism only exploits this principle to disqualify any speculation which is not reducible with a reasoning formalisable, i.e. any philosophy called in a scorning way “Métaphysique”.

The paradox is that on the contrary, for Auguste Count, the end of the Métaphysique meant, at one time when philosophy was still locked up in diagrams pre-establish, the release of the speculative possibilities of the Philosophie.

According to the encyclical Fides and Ratio, in the current context, the taking into account of the Métaphysique does not harm the philosophical speculation, for the search for direction, for all that relates to the life sciences in particular.

The official story of the Polytechnic school is entitled " the thought préservée". This history was not updated since the First World War. A complete volume relates to Saint-Simon Claude Henri de Rouvroy, count of Saint-Simon and Auguste Count.

Relationship to utilitarianism

Fields influenced by positivism

Positivism exerted a considerable influence in second half of the 19th century and until the Second world war.

In the Medicine

Medicine was chronologically the first field influenced by positivism, through personalities like:

Doctor Robinet,
Pierre Laffitte (1823 - 1903), " converti" in 1845, which took the head of the " Church positivist " (company positivist), after the death of Auguste Count,
Claude Bernard, doctor and physiologist French;

It is by medicine that the influence was transmitted to the Latin America.

In Philosophy

The influence of Auguste Count was transmitted to:

Ernest Renan, writer, philosopher, philologist and historian French;
Hippolyte Taine philosopher and historian;
during the interval wars in the Circle of Vienna (logical Positivism)
and is felt nowadays in the contemporary neopositivism, which is a form of Scientisme.

In teaching

The laws on the primary school education of Jules Ferry (March 28th 1882) took as a starting point the positivism.

Marcellin Berthelot introduced the positivist spirit into secondary education when he was Minister for the state education (1886 - 1887).

In the Right

The influence was very strong on the Droit, through the movement of the legal Positivisme:

Theories of the Normativisme and the State of right of Hans Kelsen, which gave the positive Droit French,
Théorie of the State of service of Leon Duguit.

In Literature, Linguistic Fiction and

Auguste Count influenced:

Jules Verne which, in the extraordinary voyages (54 volumes), published by its editor Pierre-Jules Hetzel, gave a certain vision of the world to the Jeunesse of this time.
Emile Littré, philologist and doctor French, author of a dictionary.
Linguistic: the words " altruisme" , " Synergy " , are of origin positivist. The word " sociologie" was invented by Sieyès and not by Auguste Count, who only popularized it.

In economy

Mixed with others Ideology S, the influence also appeared in the economy (combined with the Saint-simonisme). John Stuart Mill, English economist, was allured by the ideas of Count, but was diverted towards 1842 of it).

In Sociology

Auguste Count is often regarded in France as one of the precursors of the Sociologie . In fact, the term of sociology was created by Sieyès, and the study of the social phenomena was former to Count (see Sociologie). Nevertheless, in the evolution of the last two centuries the Western thought, the positivism of Count influenced sociologists like Emile Durkheim, or Herbert Spencer (English utilitarianism).

In Political

Especially starting from second half of the 19th century:

Charles Maurras: the founder of the French Action was very influenced by positivism and particularly by the subjective synthesis , according to Jacques Prévotat;
the socialist movements at the 19th century were marked by positivism. Claude Allègre, in his dictionary in love with science , note that Jean Jaurès, undoubtedly marked by its time, would have attended the banquets known as republican of the " Sect " positivist;
the General Andre, at the origin of the law on the Military service of 1905, cotoyé the company positivist and chaired the inauguration of the statue of Auguste Count place of the Sorbonne in 1902.
Charles Maurras and several personalities of the French Action was influenced by positivism. Jacques Prévotat in the catholics and the French Action indicates that Charles Maurras had a " harms of extase" after the reading of the subjective Synthesis of Auguste Count.

In the historical Methodology

Positivism introduced new forms of historical Méthodologie, in particular in the historians Charles-Victor Langlois and Charles Seignobos.

Others

Many a Polytechnicien S was influenced until the middle of the 20th century.

Geographical extension

Anglo-Saxon world

The influence was felt in the form of English positivism, in certain forms of Altruisme, which through John Stuart Mill join the utilitarian theories of Jeremy Bentham. Herbert Spencer also was subject to the positivist influence.

The the United States were influenced through English positivism.

Latin America

In Latin America, Raquel Capurro note that they are doctors who brought the Positivisme through the revolutionary movements which occurred on this continent with the Brésil, in Argentine, in Uruguay, where exist temples positivists. Positivism took a scientific form or " religieuse" according to the cases. The currency “ Order and progress ” figure on the Brazilian Flag ( Ordem E progresso ), it attests strong influence which positivism in Latin America had as of the end of the 19th century (see also Raquel Capurro).

In 1903, the Église positivist of Mexico buys the building of the street Payenne in Paris, where is the house of Clotilde of Are worth, and transforms the apartment of Clotilde into " cultural summary of the religion of the humanité". On the first floor, one can visit a vault of humanity, reproduction in conformity with reduced scale of the plan of temple of the Humanity which Count had designed.

Positivism today

Note on the spirit of the scientific research

The theses developed by Count about the middle of the 19th century are not really any more applicable to the scientific research of these last decades.

The projections of research caused to find new explanations (it “why”) of various phenomena:

the deviation of the Périhélie of Mercury (what would have made us pass beside the General relativity)
Of other corrections of astronomical trajectories having led to discovered Uranus, Neptune and Pluton
the law of Képler, which would have made pass beside the law of attraction of Newton.

The theory of the Big bang raises the question of the Main cause: if this one took place, it cannot by definition have Cause, but that does not imply however that one cannot find a Raison to him (see ontology), just as the sum of the angles of a triangle in Euclidean geometry has a reason without having strictly speaking causes chronologically.

A dissatisfaction created by the quantum Mécanique in the physicists comes precisely owing to the fact that we have all the means of predicting the how without having of model suggesting us the why subjacent. The same applies to the physics of the particles (why these loads and masses of particles and not of others? Why these quarks and not of others? Why these universal constants and not of others? Why these laws of physics and not of others?). To refuse to consider these questions would be to put an end to the process of research in physics, like with a chance to appease very great human curiosity in this field. It would be also the average policy-holder in never finding the answers, if answers it there A.

The rise of the cognitive Sciences in addition causes to show that with a certain granulation there is no more between the why and the how of Séparabilité as clear as that which one saw there formerly (see Autopoièse).

Consequences

The two directions (scientific and religious) have jointly to refuse the Théologie and the Métaphysique in a scientific explanation. This one must only rest:

on facts of the physical and material world supplemented of a rational process of induction
on consequences of mathematics, and in particular of logic.

The Téléologie suitable for the ethics of Aristote is scrambled.

Position of some contemporaries

Christian de Perthuis, in the conclusion of its book does the future generation have a future? , watch that the scientific certainty introduced by positivism do not have any more a value today.
Raymond Aron, after a thorough study of complete works of Auguste Count, noted that this philosophy is exceeded; its Philosophie of the history deviates from positivism.

Internal bonds

; On Auguste Count and his philosophy

Auguste Count
religious Positivism

; On the History

; On rationalist philosophy

Descartes distinction between methodical doubt and hyperbolic doubt
Cogito | Discourse on Method | Meditations metaphysics
Cartesianism
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, count of Saint-Simon | Saint-Simonism

; On the philosophical concepts in connection with philosophy Prone positivist

Reason
| Object | Others
Deduction | Induction | Perception
Cause | Causality | Main cause
List of the concepts of philosophy

; On the developments of positivism

Materialism
logical Ideology
Positivism | Circle of Vienna

; On legal positivism

Hans Kelsen
Positivism legal | Substantive law

; On the relationship between faith and reason

Religiosity
Relationship between faith and reason | Metaphysical

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