Positivism

1
Positivisms View of Scientific Truth
2
Positivism

• Movement founded and promoted by August Comte,
  the 19th century founder of Sociology
• Suggested that Human History was passing through
  3 inevitable stages
• Religious
• Metaphysical
• Scientific
• Founded a scientific religion of Positivism,
  with rituals and holidays and songs, to replace
  Christianity

3
Types of Truth Claim

1. Empirical (Facts) The Sky is blue the moon is
   rocky
2. Evaluative Murders is wrong the Mona Lisa is
   beautiful (includes aesthetic claims)
3. Metaphysical God exists The world has a purpose
4. Analytic 224 Bachelors are unmarried males
   (includes contradictory claims)

4
Context of Discovery vs. Context of Justification

• Logical Positivists (20th century philosophical
  and scientific movement) felt the scientific
  method (combined with mathematical logic) was the
  one sure way to know whether any claim was true
• Werent concerned with how scientists came to
  their theories (context of Discovery), just the
  neutral, rational and objective method by which
  they were able to justify their theories (context
  of justification)
• The fact that the discoverer of the benzene
  molecule was prompted by a dream of a snake
  eating its tail says nothing about the
  trustworthiness of science

5
Sentences

• All truth claims (propositions) are sentences,
  but not all sentences are truth claims
• Questions are not propositions
• Exclamations are not propositions (Damn you! Doh!
  Ouch! Yuck!)
• Commands are not truth claims (Go to your room!
  Stop that. Do not enter.)

6
Some examples of Analytic Truth Claims

• All triangles have three sides
• The moon cant be both spherical and not
  spherical all at once
• Adding 1 to any even number gives you an odd
  number

7
Some Examples of Metaphysical Truth Claims

• God is eternal and unchanging
• The universe has a purpose
• Suffering has a purpose
• Truth is beauty and beauty is truth
• Love makes the world go round
• All human beings are created equal
• The cause of all suffering is due to our failure
  to extinguish desire

8
Some Examples of Empirical Truth Claims

• All Alberta robins migrate south for the winter
• This fossil cant be both mammalian and
  Precambrian all at once
• Adding one teaspoon of sugar to any drink
  increases its carbohydrate content.

9
Some Examples of Evaluative Truth Claims

• All intentional acts of killing are wrong
• You have a right to vote for whoever you wish
• Adding a member of the general public to the
  panel makes the panels decision more fair
• We shouldnt do that, its too dangerous
• J.S. Back is the greatest composer of the 18th
  century (an aesthetic statement)

10
What are these Sentences?

• Eating meat is not wrong
• Is eating meat wrong?
• I think that eating meat is wrong
• Mike doesn't think that eating meat is wrong
• I once thought that eating meat was wrong
• She does not realize that eating meat is wrong

11
The Verification Principle

• Principle that to be meaningful a sentence or
  proposition must be either verifiable by means of
  the five senses or a tautology of logic
• Logical Positivists felt that this principle was
  the heart of the scientific method (an algorithm
  for making judgments about claims and theories)
• Any propositions that cant measure up to it were
  essentially meaningless (mere expressions of
  feeling or imagination)

12
Scientism

• Scientific Method is the only reliable way of
  gaining knowledge (finding the truth)
• Objective
• Open-minded
• Universal
• Cumulative
• And Progressive
• Religious and artistic thought is believed by
  positivists and believers in Scientism to be
  incapable of embodying any of these
  characteristics