- the state or quality of being positive; definiteness; assurance.
- a philosophical system founded by Auguste Comte, concerned with positive facts and phenomena, and excluding speculation upon ultimate causes or origins.
- a strong form of empiricism, esp as established in the philosophical system of Auguste Comte, that rejects metaphysics and theology as seeking knowledge beyond the scope of experience, and holds that experimental investigation and observation are the only sources of substantial knowledge
- the jurisprudential doctrine that the legitimacy of a law depends on its being enacted in proper form, rather than on its content
- the quality of being definite, certain, etc
