1. Definition
Today the term positivism, broadly conceived, refers to either (1) a stance on how to assess the results of scientific theories, or (2) a philosophical position that seeks to ban all non-empirical elements from the sphere of knowledge and replace metaphysics with the tools of empirical science (Empiricism; Epistemology). In the first sense, positivism recognizes only the empirical components of scientific theories and views their theoretic…