Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Anaxarchus, Sarah Bakewell and Auguste Comte

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1 idea

14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / e. Lawlike explanations
Positivism explains facts by connecting particular phenomena with general facts [Comte]
     Full Idea: In positivism the explanation of facts consists only in the connection established between different particular phenomena and some general facts, the number of which the progress of science tends more and more to diminish.
     From: Auguste Comte (Intro to Positive Philosophy [1830], Ch.1)
     A reaction: This seems to be the ancestor of Hempel's more precisely formulated 'covering law' account, which became very fashionably, and now seems fairly discredited. It is just a fancy version of Humeanism about laws.