The Enlightenment, Positivism, and the Birth of Sociology

The Enlightenment: The Age of Reason

The Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason or the Century of the Lights) is understood as an intellectual movement based on a set of philosophical ideas that emphasize trust in reason to solve many of the ills of mankind.

Metaphysics: The Nature of Being

Metaphysics is a traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world that encompasses it. It answers two basic questions: "What is ultimately there?" and "What is it like?" It seeks to understand:

• Existence
• Objects
• Properties

Key Enlightenment Philosophers

Prominent thinkers of this era include:

• Francis Bacon
• René Descartes
• John Locke
• Baruch Spinoza
• Pierre Bayle
• Voltaire
• David Hume
• Cesare Beccaria
• Immanuel Kant
• Sir Isaac Newton

Core Characteristics of the Enlightenment

Autonomy

The Enlightenment posits that man reaches independence at a minimum age; therefore, he made his reason independent.

Naturalism

This involves an awareness of one's essence and nature, which is rational and free.

Criticism

Enlightenment reason is the critic against prejudice that blinds and paralyzes. It stands against tradition, which is understood as a load to bear, and against authority not recognized by reason.

Positivism: The Philosophy of Fact

Positivism is the philosophy that information derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience is the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge, and that there is valid knowledge only in this derived knowledge.

Fact

A fact is something that actually exists.

Order and Category

This refers to the coherence and structure of all social factors of a determined time.

State

State commonly refers to either the condition of a system or entity.

Positive Science

This implies the science which establishes a relationship between cause and effect.

Sociology: The Science of Social Behavior

Sociology is the scientific study of social behavior, including its origins, development, organization, and institutions.

Auguste Comte and the Classification of Science

According to Comte, sciences must be classified by logical criteria of generality and complexity. Therefore, he classified them in the following order:

1. Mathematics
2. Astronomy
3. Physics
4. Chemistry
5. Sociology (at the highest point)

Methods of Induction

Also called the mathematical induction method, this involves proving a given property is true for a set of numbers by proving it true for a base case and then for subsequent cases.

Utilitarian Ethics

This is the doctrine that the morally correct course of action consists in the greatest good for the greatest number, that is, in maximizing the total benefit resulting, without regard to the distribution of benefits and burdens.

Auguste Comte's Characteristics of Positivism

• Attention to facts
• Metaphysical aversion
• Hostility to greater systems
• Reduction of philosophy to science
• The ideal of progress

A New Society, New Ideals, and a New Man

The era brought new ideas about the organization of work, society, and constant sources of riches. Two important matters emerged:

1. Man can transform nature, turning it into a material or working matter.
2. It was relevant to increase the impulse of science application and the interpretation of reason.