Define positivism, materialism, and empiricism. What contributions did each viewpoint make to the new psychology?
The term positivism was conceptualized by Auguste Comte. He took a more systemic approach to understand human knowledge, and relied more on facts and things which were not debatable.
He believed that physical sciences has come a long way and did not need to rely anymore, on religious beliefs or unobservable forces. Comet’s ideas were so refreshing that it became hugely popular that people were ready to abandon, the metaphysical and unobservable ideas. The widespread acceptance of positivism led to two distinct paths, one was the sensible path, which was related to facts and experiments, while the other was nonsense, which was still based on theology and metaphysics.
Apart from positivism, other ideas also supported anti-metaphysical positivism. Materialism was based on the fact that universe is related to the physical matters. The materialist worked on the mental processes, which converged at the common loci, which is the physiological and anatomical construction of the brain.
The last type is empiricism. The advocators of this type believed how the knowledge was acquired. According to empiricism, minds grow after sensory experiences, which are against the idea of Descartes who says that some ideas are innate and are not acquired externally.