If we consider the main directions of modern philosophy, then, of course, one of the most prominent places in the development of philosophical knowledge is positivism. Before proceeding to the analysis of this philosophical doctrine, it is necessary to indicate the sources that formed the basis of this direction, which has played and is playing a significant role in the knowledge of the world.
At the end of the 19th century, an irrational philosophy was quite widespread, which defined the unconscious, sensual, irrational principle as the dominant factor in the process of cognition. The main cognitive resources in irrationalism are declared non-thoughtful aspects - will, feelings, intuition. Irrationalists give not the least place in the list of cognitive sources to unconscious, mystical insights, which A. Schopenhauer - one of the most prominent representatives of this direction - declared generally the only source of knowledge.
The further development of philosophy and especially the natural sciences showed the limitations of the irrational approach, its inability to participate in the construction of an adequate time for the scientific picture of the world. Could not overcome the crisis in philosophical knowledge and those basic directions in philosophy, which developed approximately at the same time as irrationalism. The philosophy of life, as a philosophical doctrine, was undoubtedly a positive phenomenon in terms of considering the life of people and society in its integrity and dynamics. But she also slipped into the irrational when it came to finding the reasons that prompt a person to action. Representatives of this teaching believed that life is a chaotic stream that does not have objective expediency, and therefore it makes no sense to talk about any laws of cognition, as part of life itself.
Hermeneutics made a huge contribution to the development of scientific methodology, especially with regard to issues related to methods of text research and their interpretation. However, the influence of the irrational is also found here - any vital information is presented as a way of existence of the interpreter-subject knowing it. In a word, the interpreter interprets history and reality based on their own understanding.
Such main directions of the philosophy of the late 19th - early 20th centuries as existentialism and subjectivity, psychoanalysis reduced the cognitive sphere only to the limits of the existence of an individual human personality, during which she can define herself in one way or another.
A significant breakthrough in solving the problems of the philosophical crisis was the emergence and development of the principles of positivism. The starting point of this doctrine is the assertion about the fallacy of reliance on general scientific principles in cognition, as the previous main directions of philosophy suggested. Positivism confirms the fact - as the only true source of knowledge, while stipulating the conditions that this fact should be completely cleared of the estimated loads and confirmed by experimental methods (verification method).
The founder of the positivist trend in philosophy is the French encyclopedist Auguste Comte, who still went down in the history of scientific thought as the founder of sociology as a science in the classical sense of this meaning. During its existence, positivism went through four main stages in development. This is one of the distinguishing features of positivism, if some of the main directions of the philosophy of this time either could not survive under a hail of criticism, and, in fact, turned into refuted theories, then positivism found resources and new methodological methods for substantiating its basic principles. For example, when the classical versions of early positivism were called into question in connection with the rapid development of the natural sciences, they were rather quickly critically rethought by E. Mach and R. Avenarius. Machism has become the second historical form of positivism, in which critical experience comes first. That is why this direction has another name - empirio-criticism. Further, such forms of positivist philosophy as neopositivism and postpositivism appeared, prominent representatives of which were R. Karnap, B. Russell, K. Popper, who developed completely original methodological substantiations of the cognitive process.
For example, neopositivists believed that the main directions of philosophy are intended, first of all, for a logical analysis of the method of science, which is the main means of obtaining reliable information. Post-positivists went even further, the subject of their interest was the emergence of theoretical knowledge, the problems of scientific consensus and the advancement of knowledge. Postpositivism is more loyal to philosophy and its role in cognition.
The most important achievement of post-positivism is the substantiation of the absence of a mandatory conditionality of reliability by the possibility of verifying a scientific fact. It is from here that the most important conclusion follows about the nature of the development of all modern science - it has ups and downs in its development, but the general vector is directed towards improving scientific knowledge.