nonpositivist

Nonpositivist refers to a range of philosophical and methodological positions that reject the central tenets of logical positivism and the reduction of meaningful knowledge to empirical verification and formal logic. Nonpositivists argue that social reality is not given, fixed, or fully measurable, but constructed through language, practices, and representations, and that researchers' perspectives influence interpretation. They emphasize context, meaning, and human experience, often employing qualitative or critical methods rather than relying solely on quantitative data and hypothesis testing.

Historically, nonpositivist approaches emerged in response to the perceived limits of positivism in the 20th century. In philosophy, traditions such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, and critical theory are commonly described as nonpositivist. In sociology, interpretive sociology and symbolic interactionism reflect nonpositivist methods. In law and theology, nonpositivist strands argue that legal validity or religious truth cannot be reduced to observable facts or formal rules; considerations of morality, history, or interpretation matter.

Nonpositivist positions are diverse and not unified around a single doctrine. They generally question the idea that science can be completely objective or value-free, and they stress the role of concepts, language, and social factors in shaping understanding. Critics of nonpositivism often accuse it of relativism or lack of methodological rigor, while proponents contend that it better accounts for complexity, human agency, and the interpretive nature of inquiry.

See also: positivism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, interpretivism, critical theory, postmodernism.