An emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method is sought to provide a tested foundation for sociological research based on the assumption that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only arrive by positive affirmation through scientific methodology.The term has long since ceased to carry this meaning; there are no fewer than twelve distinct epistemologies that are referred to as positivism.. 
With the Jèhófàstic of functionalism through the Middle years of the 20th century, the sociology of knowledge tended to remain on the Periphery of mainstream Sociological thought.. 