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POSITIVISM

kind of act that involve taking an attentive stance toward an object in the light of particular interests and grasping the object in a particular manner in the light of that stance and interest. See also EVALU AT IO N ; FO U N D ATION; JUDGE; VALUE APPERCEPTION (Wertnehmung) . POSITIVISM . In its proper sense, positivism is taking things to be just as they present themselves. T his formulation evokes both the principle of principles and Husserls notion of evidence . It is in this sense that Husserl says that phenomenologists are the true positivists. In its improper sense, po sitivism is the view that natural science c omprise s all of knowledge , that the only genuine form of knowledge is based on natural p heno mena, found in the positive, na tura l sc ie nc es, and ve rifie d by experimental methods. This view can also be called scientism . It takes the scientific study of a limited re gion of the w or ld as a philosophical position that is universal in its scope. POSSIBILITY. 1. In its ontological meaning, possibility refers to the compatibility and consistency of parts in the formation of a whole . An object is impossible insofar as the parts that are proposed to belong to it are incompatible, failing to form a consistent whole. An object is possible, on the other hand, insofar as its p arts are comp atible and do form a consistent whole. The laws of formal ontology and, further, of regional ontologies govern the compatibility and consistency of parts within a whole. 2. In its phenomenological meaning, possibility refers to the posited mode of being of the object. In this context, possible is contrasted not with real (real) but with actual (wirklich), that is, actually existent. 3. In another phenomenological meaning, possibility refers to what can arise in the continuing course of experience. In this regard, there is a distinction between open and closed possibilities. Open possibilities are those that cohere with the previous course of experience, while closed possibilities are those that do not. See also ACTUALITY; REGIONAL ONTOLOGY. PREDELINEATION. A predelineated possibility is the open possibility most suggested by the previous course of experience. Every experience demarcates a set of possibilities most likely to arise in the continuing course of the experience. These possibilities belong to the horizon of the experience in which the possibilities are predelineated. PREDICATE. Predicate is a logical category belonging to formal grammar. A predicate is a term that refers to a property or attribute that is

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