Background for Metaphysical Positivism
Overview
Materials on the history of philosophy which provide context for an understanding of Metaphysical Positivism.
The proximate predecessor of metaphysical positivism is logical positivism. Metaphysical positivism descends in direct line from Russell's embryonic conception of Logical Analysis, and the philosophy of Rudolf Carnap inspired by and intended to realise that conception.
Notes and thoughts on scepticism.
Notes and thoughts on positivism (in philosophy).
Three dialectical processes in the history of philosophy are used to explore the origins of some of the key ideas of metaphysical positivism.
The distinction between matters of logic and matters of fact provides a starting point for analytic philosophy and sound reason.
"Philosophical Logicism" is my conception of analytic philosophy before I incorporated an element of positivism, and is largely incorporated in Metaphysical Positivism.
Historical Introduction
The proximate predecessor of metaphysical positivism is logical positivism. Metaphysical positivism descends in direct line from Russell's embryonic conception of Logical Analysis, and the philosophy of Rudolf Carnap inspired by and intended to realise that conception.
Ancient Precursors
Plato
Plato's admiration for mathematics and his concept of Platonic forms as the proper subject matter for philosophy and of all true knowledge, makes him a distinguished advocate of deduction in philosophical analysis.
Aristotle
A major part of Aristotle philosophy forms the collection of works known as "The Organon", the function of which is to provide the basis for the application of logic to the deductive sciences. The Organon is therefore a first model for the kind of analytic method articulated at the core of Metaphysical Positivism.
Modern Predecessors
David Hume
Though Hume predates the coining of the term, he is nevertheless often considered a positivist. This is perhaps largely due to his skepticism, his conviction that philosophy should emulate the methods of empirical science which he admired in the work of Isaac Newton, and his robust condemnation of metaphysics. Key elements of Hume's philosophy find their way down to metaphysical positivism. Most notably the central position in Hume's philosophy of what we now call the analytic/synthetic dichotomy, and the further logical distinction between matters of logic or of fact and evaluative or ethical discourse.
Comte and Positive Science
The term positivism derives from Comte's idea of positive science, science shorn of speculation and confined to what could be known. Scientific theories for Comte should be no more than summaries or systematisations of the data of experience. This phenomenalistic tendency is present in many positivist philosophies, right down to logical positivism, but is supplanted in metaphysical positivism with a more liberal pragmatism. Closely associated is the rejection of metaphysics. In metaphysical positivism there remains a skepticism about metaphysical problems but there is no outright rejection of metaphysics, and metaphysics is considered an important domain of investigation.

Despite Comte's insistence on scientific rigour, his interests were not narrow. He is better known as the founder of sociology than for his philosophy, and his vision was utopian.
Pragmatism
Pragmatism is related to positivism, and there is an element of pragmatism in metaphysical positivism (falling short of a pragmatic definitions of meaning or truth).
Russell and Logical Analysis

Russell considered Frege's work and then his own work with A.N.Whitehead leading to Principia Mathematica, as the first examples of a new method of logical analysis whose scope extended beyond mathematics into the empirical sciences and which was also the correct method for philosophy. Though an empiricist Russell is not himself usually considered a positivist, but his enthusiasm for logical analysis was taken up by Carnap and became the most distinctive new feature in the positivism of the Vienna Circle. Methods for formal logical analysis, in any domain in which deductive reason is applicable, are at the core of metaphysical analysis.

Carnap's Logical Positivism

Russell's vision of philosophy made scientific by the adoption of the method of logical analysis was the principle philosophical inspiration for the philosophical programme undertaken by Rudolf Carnap. Carnap worked extensively on the development formal logical methods and their application to philosophy and science in the context of a positivistic philosophical culture.

Carnap's philosophy may be thought of as a starting point for metaphysical positivism. In fact Ayer's Language Truth and Logic was probably more influential (on metaphysical positivism), though Ayer was less concerned with the detail of formal methods and so a comparison with Carnap is more informative (for which, see below).

Scepticism
Notes and thoughts on scepticism.
Scepticism has a long history.
Open scepticism is a kind of theoretical scepticism, an anti-dogmatic philosophy in respect of knowledge, which enjoins suspension of judgement in all matters, accepting only that things appear to be as they do.
pragmatic scepticism is a variant of practical scepticism, an anti-dogmatic philosophy in relation to what should be done. It is a personally liberating philosophical position, liberating through the denial that logic (or anything else) provides conclusive grounds for any particular course of action.
Pragmatic scepticism sees uncertainty as liberating rather than paralysing, and hence is sympathetic rather than antagonistic to creative and utopian thinking, at least so far as these are openly rather than dogmatically speculative. Sceptical nescience is no barrier to the synthesis of an open-minded weltanshauung, or to the expression of that creative synthesis in some work of philosophy, of art, of life.
Notes and thoughts on positivism (in philosophy).
Positivism
Notes and thoughts on positivism (in philosophy).
Positivist philosophy in its broadest sense is a general tendency in philosophy which embraces aspects of the thought of many philosophers including Humean scepticism, the work of Comte (who coined the term), elements of utilitarianism and pragmatism, and logical positivism.
A philosophical synthesis from elements of the rational/empiricist and the romantic/existential aspects of western philosophy, overlaid on a substratum (naive philosophy) which is sceptical and expressionistic. In its less romantic elements the position is sceptical and in some respects positivistic, but the philosophy is also I hope, positive in a more ordinary sense.
Metaphysical Positivism is systematic constructive positivist philosophy. We present here sketches of Metaphysical Positivism together with some related historical material which might possibly help the reader come to an understanding of this system and its place in the history of ideas.
Existential positivism is positive practical philosophy. It builds from a base of pragmatic scepticism, and is closely related to, though not strictly dependent on existential expressionism. It bears on philosophical matters which depend in some way on subjective values, or upon some other kind of essential reference to our personal feelings and intutions.
Three Dialectics
Three dialectical processes in the history of philosophy are used to explore the origins of some of the key ideas of metaphysical positivism.
Introduction
First words on the three dialectics and their connection with metaphysical positivism and the fundamental triple-dichotomy.
Dogmatism versus Scepticism
Rationalism versus Empiricism
Essentialism versus Conventionalism
The Fundamental Triple-Dichotomy
The distinction between matters of logic and matters of fact provides a starting point for analytic philosophy and sound reason.
Introduction
The evolution of the analytic/synthetic distinction, over a period of more than 2000 years, provides an example of how progress in philosophy takes place and of how that progress might be thought to contribute to progress for humanity.

This is one perspective on the story.
An account of Hume's fork and its significance for his philosophy.
A concise description of the necessary-analytic-a priori/contingent-synthetic-a posteriori distinction.
Applications
Conclusions

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Created:2009-09-14

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