Positivism and study of society

Positivism and study of society Positivism was named by Auguste Comte in 19th century, which was influenced by early empiricism of Enlightenment- with achieve the targets which include make objective knowledge and formulate the universal laws. The Rationalism also contributed positivism to improve the human conditions but not God (Smith, 2003, p76). Positivism has three development stages after it was mentioned- the early positivism, the logical positivism and standard positivism (Smith, 2003, p77). This essay will discuss the early positivism and logical positivism. As a branch of empiricism, the broader sense of positivism is the true knowledge which should be based on sense experiences, and only can be advanced by observation and experiment, avoided all metaphysical or speculation (Urmson, 1960). Another definition in this essay which should be introduced is the contributions of positivism. In this essay, contribution means the positivism how to create knowledge than before but not only focus on any positivistï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½s theory or the contributions in any specific subject. Positivism affected the studies of society since early 19th century to now although some people point out positivism is not fitting for the development of society nowadays (Smith, 2003, p76). In this essay, the contributions of positivism are how the positivism creates knowledge. The methodology of positivism was complete the theory of empiricism in Enlightenment. Based on positivism methodology, the closed system was implemented in study of society by Positivists. The critical evaluation of these contributions will be stated in every section. This essay will also state using modern sight to review the contributions of positivism. Early positivism contributed to create a framework of research method and the basic principles of positivism. After early positivism, ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Vienna Circleï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ developed the thoughts and created logical positivism. Positivists followed the same thought to find truth out no matter which stage of positivism. All of them had contributions in history. As mentioned above, positivism is a branch of empiricism. Comparing with empiricism in Enlightenment, the biggest contribution of positivism is complete the methodology on empiricism and lead the positivism nearly regard to scientific spirit today (Heidegren, 2006, p92). Through this methodology, new scientific methods will be completed and applied on social science. The ontology of positivism methodology is the world is external and objective, and the observers should be independent and be neutral in the researches (Smith, 2003). Under this situation, the epistemology of positivism is building hypothesises and then to find the relationships between limited facts in social phenomena, and formulate universal laws at last (Smith, 2003). Be ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½neutralï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ and ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½objectiveï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ were positivists insert in the positivism methodology and affect the whole society. Take an instance for the contribution of ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½neutralï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ and ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½objectiveï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ in positivism is the positivist approach in criminology. Before the positivism, criminal suspects could prove their own criminal behaviours and this lead some criminal suspects were suffering and had to admit the behaviours which were not existed. However, positivists thought this was not humanistic and criminal suspects should be avoid from evidences, that means the criminal suspects cannot prove their own criminal behaviours (Simon, 2006). However, the contribution of ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½neutralï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ and ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½objectiveï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ has been questioned. For example, legal positivism has begun to be questioned in recent years. Priel pointed out ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Legal positivism is the thesis that one does not need to rely on evaluative considerations in order to identify what the law isï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ in his essay (2006). He had the question about the validity and content of legal positivism (Priel, 2006). Based on the positivism methodology, early positivists completed the scientific methods. As a representative of philosophers in Enlightenment, Bacon created ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½science of methodï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½, there were three steps in the scientific method. First, making observations and repeat the observations, which were based on experiments. Secondly, classify the observations. Finally, formulating the observations to laws through inductive reasoning (Porter, 2007, p21-22). Comte and Durkheim inherited the scientific method and completed this scientific method to six steps, 1) make an observation, 2) suggest a question, 3) formulate a hypothesis and except outline, 4) testing the hypothesis through experiment method, 5) to analyse the data and 6) formulate a universal law (Cohen el al, 2007). Positivism completed the procedure of scientific method, inserted ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½hypothesisï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ and ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½experimentï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½. ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Hypothesisï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ in scientific method was the speculations of relationships between factors- the causes and effects (Cohen el al, 2007). The ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½experimentï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ means to make a test in a controlled artificial environment which had small number of variables, this system was named closed system and which will be discussed later (Smith, 2003). Hypothesis is not only the speculation of the research, but also the key of the research. Positivists mentioned this notion of hypothesis and lead the scientific method to become complete and more validity. Basically, the research is built on hypothesis, no matter in natural science or social science. For example, scientific method is applied in natural science such as biology, chemistry, physics, and other else. In social science, scientific method is also applied widely, such as economy, legal system, psychology and other subjects. Figure 1 is a good example to show the hypothesis has became one of the most important links in economic study. Applying the closed system in social science is another contribution of the early positivism, as the notion of ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½experimentï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ which is mentioned above. Before the positivism, people only applied scientific method in natural science. Comte and Durkheim believe the social science is similar as natural science and closed system can be applied and the truth and law in social science will be found. This thought provided a model for studying the social science and made people create more knowledge about the society. There are three closures in the closed system- experimental closure, theoretical closure, and statistical closure. Experimental closure is through the experiment methods in an artificial environment to get an empirical purpose (Smith, 2003). This kind of closure is usually applied in psychology and other similar subjects. Theoretical closure is usually building theory models to analyse the relationships between variables (Smith, 2003). Theoretical closure has been applied in economy widely. For example, economists anticipate the trend of national economy through the theory models. The last closure is statistical closure which means finding relationships between different variables through quantitative measurable data sets (Smith, 2003). This closure is used in economy, psychology, political science and other subjects widely. For example, customer satisfaction investigation, examination of electoral results and so on. Early positivists let people study and understand society better through applied scientific method and closed system in study of social science and tried to obtain definite objective knowledge. However, some disadvantages are existed when positivists applying scientific method and closed system in study of social science. There are too many other unpredictable variables exist outside of the boundary of closed system which can affect the results (Smith, 2003). In addition, some social variables cannot be measurable such as beliefs and scientific method maybe not suitable for this situation (Bryman Bell, 2007). Logical positivism is a development of early positivism and appeared in early 1920s (Smith, 2003). A group of philosophers who had informal discussions at the University of Vienna and they were named ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Vienna Circleï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ (Smith, 2003). The logical positivism was promoted by ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½Vienna Circleï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½, the centre of the logical positivism was still avoid any kind of metaphysics and speculative attempts (Smith, 2003). According to Ganguly (1967), logical positivism is a kind of the empiricism which with a premise that the objects can be verifiable empirically and meaningful. Comparing with early positivism, logical positivism has ambition to all knowledge which cannot be verified (Smith, 2003). One of the contributions of logical positivism is the meaning of the theory should be communicable. Logical positivists proposed achieve this target through synthetic and analytic statement (Ganguly, 1967). Ayer was a famous positivist who contributed much in logical positivism, and he pointed out that the language which was used in science should simple, clear and free from mystification (Ganguly, 1967). Smith pointed out that this proposal ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½led many to refer to this new approach as the ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½linguistic turnï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ in the philosophy of the social sciences.ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ (2003) Another contribution of logical positivism is logical positivists provide verifiability principle. Combining with induction in logical positivism, logical positivists believed the real value-free could be achieved (Ganguly, 1967). Before the logical positivism, researches were based on designersï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ purposes, therefore, the researches would be disturbed by designersï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ opinions although they tried to avoid that. For example, in some marketing satisfaction investigations, the questionnaire will bring researchers subjective and leading the answers. Some theories such as physics theories which cannot be experiment directly should be proved by logic methods. Logical positivists tried to make absolute objective topic and find the real objective truth. Their strict method and serious scientific spirit lead people to treat natural and social sciences carefully, and the real truth can be found without any subjective. However, some experts pointed out there are problems on logical positivism. First, the language requirement of logical positivism makes people confuse about the truth. Indeed, it is hard to translate the language because this doctrine defined the language so exactly (Ritchie, 2009). Secondly, the logical positivists mentioned the knowledge should be verifiable and logical, however, some theories is hard to be proved but people cannot say that is metaphysics (Ritchie, 2009). Positivism contributed so much in history and still influencing the philosophies and study of natural and social sciences today. Positivists provided useful framework in its period and helped people to collect knowledge. Positivism is an ï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½extremeï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½ philosophy which oppose to interpretivism, however, it is the time to combine them together to develop new framework for study of society (Ricciardi, 2009). As mentioned above, some weaknesses are existed when positivists applied scientific method and closed system in social sciences and obtained the knowledge, such as some hide variables are ignored by closed system when studying social sciences. Under this situation, the validity of the research will be questioned and it is not follow the principles of positivism. Therefore, new framework or new philosophy should be created to solve this problem and replace the positivism. To sum up, positivism was mentioned in early 19th century, Comte and Durkhaim were the founders of the positivism. The purpose of positivism is finding the absolute objective true knowledge, different stage of positivism followed this thought and tried best to avoid metaphysics and subjective. Early positivists who were influenced by empiricism in Enlightenment and completed the positivism methodology, new completed scientific method was created based on this situation. Early positivists developed the closed system and enhance the development of sciences as well. Furthermore, early positivists applied scientific method and closed system in study of society, this helped people to understand the world better in that period, although some disadvantages were exist, such as some variables in society were ignored. Vienna Circle developed the thoughts and methods in early positivism and created logical positivism. They applied more strict principles to find the objective truth. The most imp ortant contributions of logical positivism were using exactly accurate language to describe the theories and verifiable principle. These lead the sciences to be objective and more accurate. However, the weaknesses are still in logical positivism, for example, using exactly language will bring the barriers in communication in different languages. As the development of philosophy and sciences, positivism emerge more and more weakness and will be replaced by other new philosophies. Positivism has depth influence in history and the contributions cannot be eliminated. Bibliography Bryman, A. Bell, E. (2007) Business research methods, published by Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2nd Ed, 2007 Cohen, L., Manion, L. Morrison, K. (2007) The Scientific Method, Research methods in education, published by Routledge, New York, in 2007 Ganguly, S. (1967) Logical positivism- as a theory of meaning, published by Allied Publishers Private Limited, India, in 1967 Heidegren, CG (2006) Positivism before Logical Positivism in Nordic Philosophy, The Vienna Circle in the Nordic Countries, published by Springer, published in 2006 Porter, D. (2007) Baconï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½s Method and Coleridgeï ¿ ½Ã¯ ¿ ½s Empiricism, Knowledge broken: Empiricist method and the forms of Romanticism, Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, published in 2007 Priel, D. (2006) TROUBLE FOR LEGAL POSITIVISM?, Legal Theory, Published by Cambridge University Press, published in 12/2006, p225-263 Ricciardi, F. (2009) Epistemology of Information Systems: Time for Something New? Positivism, Interpretivism, and Beyond, Information Systems: People, Organizations, Institutions, and Technologies, published on 03/10/2009 Ritchie, A. (2009) Errors of Logical Positivism, Philosophy, Vol: 12 Issue: 45, published in 02/2009 Simon, J (2006) Positively Punitive: How the Inventor of Scientific Criminology Who Died at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Continues to Haunt American Crime Control at the Beginning of the Twenty-First, Texas Law Review, Vol: 84, Issue: 7, published in 06/2006, [accessed on 09/03/2010] Smith, M. (2003) Social science in question, edited, designed, and typeset by The Open University, published in 1998, reprinted 2002 and 2003 Urmson, O. (1960) The concise encyclopedia of western philosophy and philosophers, Urmson, O. edited, publisher: HUTCHINSON CO. London

Effective inroduction Essay

This essay will be assessing how this section forms an effective introduction to the play. Firstly Miller sets the scene. He begins with describing ‘the backyard of the Keller home, in the outskirts of an American town. ‘ (pg 3) Automatically from this we gather that the play is an American drama. Evidently if you had read previous playwrights by Miller or know his Nationality you would have all ready established the fact of an American play. If not then with-in the first line you are well informed. Next he states the particular time of year in which the play is set â€Å"august of our era† (pg 3) this suggests the weather would be â€Å"beautiful? Not a cloud† (pg 4). It also even goes into further detail informing you of the date and time â€Å"early Sunday morning† (pg 3) He then progresses into describing the house and garden here we can already begin to guess the state, and class of the family. â€Å"The house is two stories high, and has seven rooms† (pg 3. ) He then describes the arrangement of the garden. â€Å"Garden chairs and a table are scattered around† (pg 3) this is very affective as we can imagine a clear picture of where the main conversations and drama will take place. The atmosphere is very cheerful and friendly and suggests that the Keller’s are a popular family. This contrasts later on in the play, when we find out they dint always used to be a popular family due to Joe’s jail incident, and the fact that the neighbour thought he was a ‘murderer. ‘ Also the biggest contrast would be at the end of the play when the tension wouldn’t be calm anymore, instead it is full of resentment by Chris towards Joe, full of guilt on Joe’s behalf, and finally after Joe’s suicide the mood it is upsetting and dramatic. The characters are then introduced; Joe, Chris, and the neighbours. Joe’s character’s first impression is under educated. â€Å"To see what people want you know? † (pg 4/5), and from the stage directions at the beginning of act one: â€Å".. terrible concentration of the uneducated man†(page 3. ) also He asks Dr Bayliss if Frank is: â€Å"Talking sense†(pg 6) this suggests he don’t understand him, This shows us he doesn’t understand people’s ideas, and has a very narrow view of people’s jobs and lively-hoods â€Å"wanted old dictionaries†¦ what’s a man going to do with an old dictionary? † (pg 5) This links into him being very money motivated and materialistic. He cares about money a great deal and values everything by it’s monetary value: â€Å"You mean he’ll make a living out of that? â€Å"(pg 5.) Also we know Joe is very proud and takes good care of his business, this is proven when Miller sets the scene talks about the house â€Å"cost fifteen thousand in the early twenties when it was built† (introduction pg 2) this suggests the house is only about 28-30 years old, as it was built in the twenties, and this play was written around two years of WWII ending in 1945. Meaning Keller has bought this house, and is able to provide and support his family indicating he is a good at his job, and a wealthy business man this is backed up later in the book when he talks to Kate about how he was â€Å"put out† (pg 72) at ten and made to earn for a living. Overall Joe has come from a poorer background, and has managed to work himself up the social ladder. He is not just a serious business man, he is kind and friendly, popular with Bert a young boy he often plays detective games with. Chris is Joe’s son who is introduced on page 9. Together Joe and Chris have a conversation where Ann (Chris’s wife to be as we find out later on in the play) people describe her as a â€Å"beautiful girl† she is seen as mysterious, which draws in the audience. Also Kate (Joe’s wife and Chris’s mother) who is seen as optimistic and living in hope are referred to, however at the start of Act Three there is a contrast between Kate’s idealism and Jim’s practicality. â€Å"you’re so childish Jim† showing she thinks he nai ve and immature. This starts the build up of tension in Act Three. Miller describes Chris as a â€Å"man capable of immense affection and loyalty† (pg 9 stage directions) Before the character even speaks the audience already gets a feel that Chris is going to be the ‘good-guy’ in the play. The other characters introduced are Dr Jim Bayliss our first impression of Jim is that he cynical and realistic when talking to Keller about the rain he says he doesn’t believe in the papers â€Å"then it cant† (pg 4) Hr is critical and sarcastic of the weather. Jim is very against his son being a doctor â€Å"over my dead body† (pg 6) this shows he doesn’t enjoy his profession and we find out later that he had tried to follow his ambition helping humanity, but he couldn’t afford to provide for his family. â€Å"I would love to help humanity on a Warner Brother’s salary† (pg 7) Again another person who is realistic about money, already we get an impression that one of the themes of the play is money and materialism. This also parallels Joes actions, both men have had to compromise their occupation, and had to do things they regret to earn a living. However there is a huge contrast at the start of Act Three. Jim realizes moneys not everything â€Å"money. Money-money-money-money, you say it long enough it doesn’t’ mean anything† (pg 69) This is a sub-plot in the play. But could this need for money all be down to his wife sue? Sue comes in just as Jim talks about â€Å"not a damn thing to look at in the neighbour hood† (pg 7) an awkward moment to introduce a new character but miller purposely picked this so automatically we can get an idea of Sue and Jim’s uneasy relationship. Sue comes across as jealous â€Å"she enjoys it more when you tell her to lay down† (pg 7) implying one of her husbands clients fancies him. Her jealously is seen more stronger later on in the play when she speaks to Ann about trying to convince Chris in moving away, she can be quite harsh and nasty. She is very money obsessed. This is effectual.

Red Bull Situational Analysis - 769 Words

Red Bull is a privately owned company, producing and distributing the Red Bull energy drink to more than 165 countries worldwide. The company was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz in Austria in 1984 and launched Red Bull onto the Austrian market in 1987. Since then more than 35 billion cans of Red Bull have been consumed. Red Bull employs over 8,900 people throughout the world, its corporate headquarters are located in Fuschi am See, Austria. (N/A, 2012). This report focuses specifically on the New Zealand distribution and marketing of this product. Red Bull New Zealand Ltd. is the local unit of the international giant that is Red Bull. In 2010 Kiwi’s bought $30.3 million of Red Bull, this was up 7.5% from the previous year. In the†¦show more content†¦(Underhill, 2011). Red Bull as a product has many strengths, which increase buyer demand. Buyers feel the physical need to buy Red Bull such as when they are feeling sleepy behind the wheel of a car. Socially people feel the need buy Red Bull because of the many extreme sports red bull associates itself with. Red Bull receives a lot of publicity throughout the media, mainly to do with health issues. This causes controversy over the drink, and is considered a weakness. The media often report that Red Bull is unhealthy and damages your body. The media often targets parents, telling them that it is harmful for teenagers and children. This being Red Bulls target market has a very negative impact on the company. Potentially there are some future threats for Red Bull. Generation Y, their target market will before long grow older. This raises some concerning questions. Will generation Y still buy Red Bull when they have out grown Red Bulls target market? Will Red Bull be able to develop marketing strategies that will persuade the upcoming generation? Or will they find something else? 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The Divine Comedy And Dantes Inferno - 1079 Words

In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is viewed as a brave and virtuous hero by most people, especially the Greeks. However, the poet Dante Alighieri shares a much different view within his book The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Dante was born and raised in Italy and therefore had a natural hate for everything Greek related. The Inferno was written thousands of years after the Trojan war, and yet Dante still had a burning grudge against the Greeks for the way in which they defeated the Romans. Dante also validated his hatred by claiming he had family ties to the ancient Romans. In The Inferno, the main character Dante meets with the Roman poet Virgil who was one of Dante’s biggest influences. Virgil guides Dante deep into the circles of hell and†¦show more content†¦In other words, Ulysses shortly realized after returning home from his ten-year adventure that being home was not what made him happy; it was experiencing the world and gaining knowledge through crazy adventures at sea. After spending most of his life on these crazy adventures, he realized that staying at home and doing nothing makes him bored. While many people would admire and celebrate Ulysses’ superheroic character, Dante saw this as irresponsible adventure seeking. Perhaps Dante believed that Ulysses took his family for granted and was immoral for choosing not to spend the rest of his life with them. Dante’s opinion on Ulysses’ character was likely influenced by his tragic love life experiences at youth. Maybe Dante losing his childhood dream girl Beatrice at a young age made him believe that people should spend as much time as possible with loved ones and cherish those moments. In Dante’s eyes, Ulysses was seen as a bad and cold-hearted person for choosing journey and adventure over love and family. About half a millennium after Dante’s Inferno, the British poet Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a personal narrative from Ulysses that takes place before his final voyage after killing the suitors. This narrative serves to fill in the gap of the story between the end of Homer’s Odyssey and the beginning of Dante’s Inferno. In this poem titled â€Å"Ulysses,† Tennyson chooses to embrace the parts of Ulysses’ character thatShow MoreRelated Divine Comedy - The Trinity in Dantes Inferno Essay2097 Words   |  9 PagesThe Trinity in The Inferno      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dantes Inferno, itself one piece of a literary trilogy, repeatedly deploys the leitmotif of the number three as a metaphor for ambiguity, compromise, and transition. 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There was a lot of political unrest during Dante’s lifetime, as well as a horde of new poetical and literary movements that arose. This was due to the Guelfi Party’s split into two: those in favor of the pope and those in favor of the emperor. In addition, the new poetical movement that came about was called the â€Å"Stilnovo†, and was basically a style where poets would discuss their feelings of love and theorize about love. 3. Dante’s wife, Gemma Donati, does not have as large an influenceRead MoreDantes Voyage Through Hell1490 Words   |  6 PagesThe Inferno was written by Dante Alighieri around 1314 and depicts the poet’s imaginary journey through Hell. Dante spent his life traveling from court to court both lecturing and writing down his experiences. His Divine Comedy – the three-part epic poem consisting of Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso (Hell, Purgatory and Heaven)– is generally regarded as one of the greatest poetic feats ever accomplished. All three parts are incredible literary feats with symbolism so complex and beautiful that