positivist
Americanadjective
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relating or adhering to positivism as a philosophical system.
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relating or adhering to a theory of law based on the authority of the lawmaker rather than on ethical considerations that govern or precede the law.
noun
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someone who adheres to positivism as a philosophical system.
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someone who adheres to a theory of law based on the authority of the lawmaker rather than on ethical considerations that govern or precede the law.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A staunch positivist, Remi had refused to listen to the part of her gut that kept pumping bile, insisting that something was seriously wrong.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2024
In his positivist vision, both progress and existential doubt have the breathless optimism of a TED Talk.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2022
Drawing on positivist philosophy and Darwinian biology, such thinkers insisted, as some 21st-century neurophysiologists and evolutionary psychologists do, that free will is nothing but an illusion.
From Washington Post ● May 7, 2020
Their ideas reflect not only the findings but also the values of those who have for too long commanded the science system: positivist, reductionist and focused on dominating nature.
From Nature ● Oct. 7, 2019
This is the error of both the positivist and of the psychological philosopher, if scientific procedure gives us in any sense a picture of the situation.
From Creative Intelligence Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by Boyd H. Bode
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
