A trick to using malapropism is to ensure that the two words (the original and the substitute) sound similar enough for the reader to catch onto the intended switch and find humor in the result.
Positivism is a philosophical theory stating that positive knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, forms the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge.
In its strongest original formulation, positivism could be thought of as a set of five principles: 1  The unity of the scientific method â i.e., the logic of inquiry is the same across all sciences (social and natural). 2  The aim of science is to explain and predict. 3  Scientific knowledge is testable.