antipositivism

Antipositivism, or antipositivist theory, is a stance in the philosophy of science and social science that challenges the assumptions of positivism—the view that social phenomena can be studied with the same methods used in the natural sciences to produce general laws. Antipositivists contend that social reality is fundamentally interpretive, shaped by meanings, intentions, culture, and historical context, and that researchers cannot remain value-free observers. Accordingly, they emphasize understanding the motives and purposes of actors (Verstehen) rather than producing purely predictive laws, and they support qualitative methods and reflexivity.

Historically, antipositivism arose in opposition to Comtean and logical-empiricist positivism. A key figure is Wilhelm Dilthey, who distinguished the humane sciences (Geisteswissenschaften) from the natural sciences. In sociology, Max Weber advanced interpretive sociology, stressing that social action must be understood from the actor’s point of view. The tradition was extended by thinkers like Karl Mannheim, the Frankfurt School, and various phenomenologists and critical theorists, who argued that knowledge is conditioned by social and political interests.

In practice, antipositivist approaches favor qualitative methods—ethnography, in-depth interviews, discourse analysis, and historical-comparative work—and conceptualize theory as an interpretive map rather than a prediction engine. Critics argue that antipositivism risks relativism and undermines empirical testability, while supporters see it as essential for capturing meaning, agency, and power in social life. In contemporary scholarship, antipositivist and post-positivist approaches coexist with positivist and mixed-method traditions, often within methodological pluralism.