What is Logical Positivism?
Logical positivism is a paradigm of thinking that states that only data (or knowledge) derived from scientifically-valid and objectively-observable methods are considered valid. Any other method of deriving or accepting data is invalid, according to this method of thinking. Hence, all forms of metaphysical or religious ‘knowledge’ based on faith or belief or some other non-measurable means are not accepted by logical positivists. The approach is very influential in the academic work in which science and its products are privileged above metaphysics and non-verifiable data. However, there are other fields of academic interest (including some within sciences of different sorts) in which other types of data are accepted and indeed in which logical positivism is rejected for a variety of reasons. In general terms, the acceptance of the scientific method as the appropriate means of furthering knowledge that is sanctioned by academics means that most people in those areas are logical positiv
Logical positivism is a way of thinking popular in the mid-20th century which attempted to make philosophy more rigorous by creating criteria for evaluating the truth or falsity of certain philosophical statements. Its main criteria for any statement is verifiability, which comes from two different sources: empirical statements, which come from science, and analytic truth, statements which are true or false by definition. Logical positivism heavily influenced philosophy of science, logic, and philosophy of language, among other areas, though today it is largely viewed as an overly simplistic approach which has been displaced by newer philosophies. Logical positivism is an absolutist way of looking at statements and labeling them either true, false or meaningless. In modern times, this has been displaced by philosophies which view the truth or falsity of statements in a probabilistic rather than an absolute light. Logical positivists themselves had many disagreements, demonstrating that
