What is positivism?

 Positivism is essentially the philosophical system that recognizes only positive facts and observable phenomena; positivist approaches came to be the foundation of what was widely known as the scientific method and depended upon making empirical generalizations, statements of law-like character, which relate to phenomena that can be empirically recognized (Johnston, 1983). Because positivism depends upon the use of empirical generalizations, it embraces the verification principle because it demands testing of the empirical hypothesis proposed, leading to verification or falsification. The aim is to achieve general laws that are not specific to a given set of circumstances. Positivism was given enormous impetus by the advent of Darwin’s Origin of Species and the concept of evolution.