philosophie positive

Comte took over Saint-Simon's basic concept and further systematized it in his Lectures on Positive Philosophy (1830-42), which consisted of six volumes, in which he defined the word "positive" and gave its characteristics as "real" as opposed to "imaginary," "useful" as opposed to "useless," "definite" as opposed to "uncertain," "precise" as opposed to "ambiguous," and "positive, constructive" as opposed to "negative, negative." He argued that being positive is not about "destruction" but about "organization," and presented a "three-stage law" that human knowledge and actions are "theological," "metaphysical," and "positive." He called the positive theory of social phenomena "sociology," and the theory that explains the natural, spiritual, and social worlds as a whole and consistently based on positive knowledge "philosophie positive." Comte's theory was highly praised by the British scholar J.S. Mill, who wrote Comte and Positivism (1865) and stated that "Comte was the first to attempt a complete systematization of positivism and to extend it scientifically to all objects of human knowledge."

*Some terminology explanations that mention "philosophie positive" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…コントはサン･シモンの基本構想を引き継ぎ，さらにいっそう体系化し，《実証哲学講義》全6巻(1830‐42)において〈実証的〉という語を定義し，〈架空〉に対する〈現実〉，〈無用〉に対する〈有用〉，〈不確定〉に対する〈確定〉，〈あいまい〉に対する〈正確〉，〈消極的，否定的〉に対する〈積極的，建設的〉などの特徴をあげた。そして実証的とは〈破壊する〉ことでなくて〈組織する〉ことであると説き，人間の知識と行動は〈神学的〉―〈形而上学〉―〈実証的〉になるという〈3段階の法則〉を提示し，社会現象についての実証的理論を〈社会学sociologie〉，実証的知識に基づいて自然界，精神界，社会界を全体的に一貫して説明する理論を〈実証哲学philosophie positive〉と呼んだ。　コントの説はイギリスのJ.S.ミルに高く評価され，ミルは《コントと実証主義》(1865)を書き，〈コントこそは実証主義の完全な体系化を企て，それを人間の知識のあらゆる対象に科学的に拡大した最初の人であった〉と述べた。…

※「philosophie positive」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報