Etymology

positivism

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Today it means: A doctrine that states that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method, refusing every form of metaphysics. Full definition →

French positivisme
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The story

  1. French · borrowed frompositivisme
  2. English todaypositivism

Borrowed from French positivisme, from positif (“positive”). By surface analysis, positiv(e) + -ism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.