Memorandum on Phillips' "Two Decades After... (Week of 2/6/2008)

Mitch Bleier

Prof. K. Tobin

U ED 70300

Spring 2008

February 6, 2008

Memorandum on:

Phillips, D. C. (2004). Two decades after: “After the wake: Postpositivistic educational thought. Science & Education. 13, 67-84.

It is generally believed that positivism, a philosophical position that “was dominant during the middle third of the [20^th] century…had a profound but pernicious effect on conceptions of the nature of science…[and it] eventually sickened and died” (p. 70). D. C. Phillips points out that positivism “has become a widely-used term of abuse” (p. 68) applied to authors with whom the accuser(s) disagrees on a particular point or idea that also may be shared with actual positivists. In this paper, Phillips tries to referee what is and has been a sometimes intellectually violent argument.

Phillips asserts that positivism is/was not monolithic. He describes a variety of different but related positions that, generally, are labeled as positivism. He compares these positions, indicates which of them are extant in some guise or another, which can actually be considered dead, and why each of these ideas has fallen into disfavor.

Phillips concludes by indicating that, although we are better for the demise of positivism(s), the positivists themselves did important work that sought to make research in the social sciences better and more useful. Quoting R. H. Ashby (1964), he numbered among their contributions to philosophy, an “interest in cooperation,” “high standards of rigor” and an attempt to develop “methods of inquiry that would lead to commonly accepted results.”

Additional Reference.

Ashby, R. W. (1964). Logical positivism. In O’Connor, D. J. (ed.), A critical history of western philosophy. New York: The Free Press.