CRM 1301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Positive Criminology, Determinism, Scientific Method
14 Mar 2017
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Auguste comet: he was credited with giving criminology its name, argued that humanity and society evolved through 3 stages, three stages of society"s evolution, theological. Goodness and evil are attributed to the divine. And heavy emphasis on religion i. e. demonic era, monarchy: metaphysical. Discourse of ideas replace supernatural explanations finally start to see the emerge of philosophy i. e. classical, enlightenment: positive considered to be the highest stage. We really start to focus on the scientific method, observation. Getting to the root of the problem asking why, rather asking how. Within a paradigm we can have different theories. Positivism in paradigm has 3 different strands. What are the basic characteristics of positivism: determinism. Hard: when confronting situations there is no choice, all-encompassing compulsion, beyond the control of the individual. Body and mind differences between criminal and non-criminal: focus on actors focus turns on the people committing the crime.
