Positivism is a philosophical theory that states that all knowledge must be derived from experience and observation rather than from other sources such as intuition, metaphysics, or theology. It is based on the idea that the only way to truly know something is to observe it with the senses and to use reason and logic to interpret the data. Positivism holds that any knowledge that is not based on empirical evidence is unreliable and thus should be discarded.

It was prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries because of the influential work of Émile Durkheim. Durkheim's work and methodologies had a major impact on the academic discipline of sociology, and his ideas and theories continue to be influential today. He established the notion of objective _sui generis_ “social facts” as a unique empirical object for the science of sociology to study, which allowed for an analysis of a given society to determine whether it was “healthy” or “pathological”. His work set the stage for modern sociology and continues to be influential in the field.
spam fails_task lang_mismatch pii not_appropriate hate_speech sexual_content quality toxicity humor helpfulness creativity violence