POSITIVISM is a term frequently used to characterize a number of theoretical positions in philosophy as well as in the social sciences. A remarkable heterogeneity of meaning has always companied this term, and this peculiarity is in central ways associated with the 19^th century French philosopher Auguste Comte, who coined the term and elaborated his conception of it in his writings. His two major works dealing with positivism are the Course of Positive Philosophy (1830—1842) and the System of Positive Polity, or Treatise on Sociology Instituting the Religion of Humanity (1851—1854). Although many of Comte’s ideas were not original with him, his work nevertheless represents the first major systematic formulation of modern positivism. His system was to stimulate in turn certain central developments in logic, the philosophy of science, psychology, and sociology.

实证主义是一个经常用来描述哲学和社会学中一些理论立场的术语。这个术语的含义一直伴有显著的异质性，而且这种特点在很大程度上与19世纪法国哲学家奥古斯特·孔德有关，他创造了该术语，并在其著作中阐述了他的概念。他有关实证主义的两部主要著作是《实证哲学教程》（1830年—1842年）和《实证政治体系》，或叫《论建立人道宗教的社会学》（1851年—1854年）。虽然孔德的许多想法并不是他的原创，不过他的著作首次代表了现代实证主义主要的系统表述。他的系统反过来又刺激了逻辑学、科学哲学、心理学和社会学的某些核心的发展。

Positive Philosophy as a Philosophy of Science.  One of Comte’s principal aims was to transform all philosophy into a philosophy of science, which he called positive philosophy. The central purposes of his positive philosophy as a distinct discipline were to coordinate the general findings of the basic scientific disciplines of mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and sociology, and to unify their methods. By serving these ends, philosophy could guide and accelerate the direction and progress of the special sciences.

作为一种科学哲学的实证哲学。孔德的主要目标之一是将所有的哲学都转化为他称之为实证哲学的科学哲学。他的实证哲学作为一个独特学科的中心目的是协调数学、天文学、物理学、化学、生物学和社会学等基础学科的一般发现，并统一它们的方法。通过服务这些目的，哲学就能指导和促进特殊科学的方向和进步。

Positive philosophy, as the philosophy of science, is the final stage in the development of philosophy. Throughout history man has attempted to comprehend the order that prevails in the world of phenomena. In the earliest stage of thought, the theological stage, men attribute the occurrence and order of phenomena to the workings of supernatural agents. In its next stage, the metaphysical stage, order is explained by references to abstract forces. But it is only in the last stage, the positive stage, that the human mind gives up the search for first and final causes and instead attempts to discover the invariable relations of succession and likeness between phenomena. In this way the actual laws that govern phenomena are discovered.

作为科学哲学的实证哲学，是哲学发展的最后阶段。纵观历史，人类试图去理解现象世界中普遍存在的秩序。在思想的早期阶段，神学的阶段，人类把现象的发生和秩序归因于超自然原动力的作用。在一下个阶段，形而上学的阶段，是用抽象的力量来解释秩序。但只有在最后阶段，实证的阶段，人类的心灵放弃了寻找最初和最终的原因，反而试图发现在现象之间连续和相似的不变关系。用这样的方法，实际上就发现了支配现象的规律。

The Role of Reason and Mathematics in Scientific Method and Positive Philosophy.  For a clear understanding of Comte’s positivism and of the philosophy of science that has developed since his day, it is essential to note Comte’s opposition to a strictly empiricist theory of knowledge. Although valid knowledge must be based on the observation of phenomena, observation and induction in Comte’s view will never by themselves lead to the discovery of the laws of phenomena. All observation of phenomena must in fact be guided by conjectures or theories about their order. In the past, theological and metaphysical theories were EXPRESSIONS, although imperfect ones, of this use of the faculty of reasoning. In the positive stage, reason comes into its own in the formulation of scientific hypothesis to guide scientific inquiry. What was later to be elaborated as the hypothetico-deductive method of understanding already existed in its essentials in Comte’s rudimentary conception of scientific method.

理性与数学在科学方法和实证哲学中的作用。为清晰地理解孔德的实证主义和自他那个时代发展的科学哲学，留意孔德反对严格的经验主义认识论是必不可少的。尽管有效的知识必须是基于对现象的观察，但在孔德看来，通过观察与归纳本身永远不会导致发现现象的规律。实际上，所有对现象的观察都必须受到对于它们秩序的推测和理论的指导。在过去，神学和形而上学理论都是这种推理能力运用的表达方式，虽然它们并不完美。在实证阶段，理性在科学假设，指导科学探究的形成中形成了自己的价值。后来被阐述为假设-演绎的那种理解方法，就其本质而言已经存在于孔德的基本科学方法的概念中。

 Comte considered mathematics the corner-stone of both positive philosophy and the positive method. In contrast to geometry and mechanics, which he regarded as natural sciences, mathematical analysis, because of its purely logical and rational nature, represents the ideal of scientific method.

孔德认为数学既是实证哲学，也是实证方法的基石。相比几何学和机械学，他认为它们都是自然科学，由于数学分析的纯粹逻辑性和合理性，所以它代表了科学方法的理想。

Positivism and Social Phenomena. Comte sought to apply scientific method to the study of social phenomena, thereby bringing the last remaining class of phenomena into the realm of the observational sciences. He believed that by means of the positive science of social physics, or sociology, man could discover the laws that determine social order and progress.

实证主义与社会现象。孔德试图运用科学方法来研究社会现象，从而把现象最后的剩余类带进观察科学的领域。他认为，用社会物理学或社会学的实证科学，人类就能发现决定社会秩序和进步的规律。

Comte postulated that mankind, like all other phenomena in nature, was governed by invariable laws of coexistence and succession. Hence such metaphysical notions as freedom and will in human affairs were invalidated, since they were not scientifically observable entities.

孔德假定，就像自然界中的所有其它现象一样，人类是受共存和继承的不变规律所支配。因此，像人类事务中的自由和意志这样的形而上学概念是无效的，因为它们在科学上都是无法观察到的实体。

Comte argued that to the extent that men possess knowledge of the invariable laws determining order and change in society as well as in nature, they will consciously behave in accord with them. When man mistakenly assumes that human affairs can be arranged or altered at will, be in fact obstructs the working out of historical laws, produces social disharmony and strife, delays progress, and prevents himself and others from becoming reconciled to the prevailing order of things.

孔德认为，只要人类拥有了决定社会和自然秩序和变化的不变规律，他们就会有意识地与它们步调一致。当人类错误地假设人类事务可随意安排或改变，实际上是阻塞了历史规律的形成，造成社会的不和谐和冲突，延迟了进步，并阻止自己和他人与现存的事务秩序的和解。

This is not to suggest that he believed mankind must submit passively to what is. Knowledge of these laws will enable man to predict phenomena and act successfully on both nature and society. Throughout Comte’s career, his overriding purpose was to reorganize Western society and institute a permanent social order free from chaos and revolution. His vast philosophical system was designed primarily to serve this end and is inseparable from it.

这并不是说他认为人类必须被动地服从现状。对这些规律的认识会使人类预测现象并成功地面对自然与社会。纵观孔德的职业生涯，他最重要的目的是重组西方社会，并构建一个摆脱混沌和革命的永久社会秩序。他宏大的哲学体系主要是服务于这一目的，并且是不可分割的。

Comte’s Religion of Humanity. Whereas Comte’s positive philosophy aimed primarily at the establishment of social order through the systematization and training of man’s intellectual functions, his creation of a religion of humanity in later life had as its goal the moulding of man’s feelings to assure permanent social harmony. This positive religion represented the necessary complement to his positive philosophy but to many admirers of his philosophy of science, this new aspect of positivism was an embarrassment.

孔德的人道宗教。鉴于孔德实证哲学的主要目标是通过对人类智力功能的系统化和训练来建立社会秩序，而他在晚年作为目标，创造的人道宗教是在塑造人类的情感来确保永久的社会和谐。对孔德而言，这种实证宗教对其实证哲学是必要的补充，但对许多他的科学哲学的爱慕者来说，实证主义的这种新特色却是一种尴尬。

                                        GERTRUD LENZER

                              The City University of New York

                                        格特鲁德·伦则

                                         纽约市立大学

                                       2023年2月22日译

（译者注：该词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第22卷，第450页至451页）