Definition of: positivism

(poz′ə·tiv·iz′əm) noun
1. A way of thinking that regards nothing as ascertained or ascertainable beyond the facts of physical science or of sense.
2. A system of philosophy elaborated by Auguste Comte, holding that man can have no knowledge of anything but actual phenomena and facts and their interrelations, rejecting all speculation concerning ultimate origins or causes. Compare HUMANITARIANISM.
3. Certitude, or the claim of certitude, in knowledge.
—pos′i·tiv·ist noun
—pos′i·tiv·is′tic adjective