empiricism

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

em·pir·i·cism

(ĕm-pîr′ĭ-sĭz′əm)

1. The view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge.

a. Employment of empirical methods, as in science.

b. An empirical conclusion.

3. The practice of medicine that disregards scientific theory and relies solely on practical experience.

em·pir′i·cist n.

empiricism

(ɛmˈpɪrɪˌsɪzəm)

1. (Philosophy) philosophy the doctrine that all knowledge of matters of fact derives from experience and that the mind is not furnished with a set of concepts in advance of experience. Compare intuitionism, rationalism

2. the use of empirical methods

3. (Medicine) medical quackery; charlatanism

emˈpiricist n, adj

em•pir•i•cism

(ɛmˈpɪr əˌsɪz əm)

n.

1. empirical method or practice.

2. the philosophic doctrine that all knowledge is derived from sense experience. Compare rationalism (def. 2).

3. undue reliance upon experience, as in medicine; quackery.

4. a conclusion that is arrived at empirically.

[1650–60]

em•pir′i•cist, n., adj.

empiricism

1. the doctrine that all ideas and categories are derived from sense experience and that knowledge cannot extend beyond experience, including observation, experiment, and induction.
2. an empirical method or practice. — empiricist, n. — empirical, adj.

empiricism

The view that knowledge proceeds from experience.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	empiricism - (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience empiricist philosophy, sensationalism British empiricism - the predominant philosophical tradition in Great Britain since the 17th century experimentalism - an empirical doctrine that advocates experimental principles logical positivism, positivism - the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation) philosophy - the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics philosophical doctrine, philosophical theory - a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy
	2.	empiricism - the application of empirical methods in any art or science investigating, investigation - the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically
	3.	empiricism - medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings quackery medical practice - the practice of medicine

Translations

empirisme

empiricism

[emˈpɪrɪsɪzəm] N → empirismo m

empiricism

[ɪmˈpɪrɪsɪz^əm] n → empirisme m

empiricism

n → Empirismus m; (method) → Empirie f

empiricism

[ɛmˈpɪrɪˌsɪz/əm] n → empirismo

References in classic literature ?

He, by some wonder of vision, saw beyond the farthest outpost of empiricism, where was no language for narration, and yet, by some golden miracle of speech, investing known words with unknown significances, he conveyed to Martin's consciousness messages that were incommunicable to ordinary souls.

View in context

The minutes lingered, and the delay had seemed an hour to the adventurer in empiricism, when the Huron laid aside his pipe and drew his robe across his breast, as if about to lead the way to the lodge of the invalid.

View in context

Moreover, the idealism and the empiricism of the Politics are never really reconciled by Aristotle himself.

View in context

But far be from me the despair which prejudges the law by a paltry empiricism;--since there never was a right endeavor but it succeeded.

View in context

Regrettably, however, he shows himself unacquainted with the way that Kant refuted Hume's extreme empiricism by appealing to Newton, who applied Aquinas's scientific method of observation, experiment, and quantification (those "dreadful" mathematical abstractions) to the study of the material world, thus bringing about a decisive turning point in the history of science.

Ethics As Social Science: The Moral Philosophy of Social Cooperation

The linkage between existing knowledge and undiscovered knowledge has to do with basic empiricism and epistemology.

A multidisciplinary framework for theory building

Thomas Aquinas, not to mention Maimonides and Avicenna, to something less than a footnote is a blunder too big to be a mere mistake.) And Russell's biases toward British empiricism led him to paint verbal pictures of philosophers he did not care for -- Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Hegel, William James - that were at best caricatures and at worst calumnies.

Adventures in Ideas. (Books)

fragmented self"; Gruesser, at the nexus of intuition and empiricism, concludes that Schuyler was a "black writer who responded to white racism and the pressure to toe the line within the black community by creating a variety of personae for himself." Gruesser's uninitiated attentiveness to factual detail inadvertently yields a Gurdjieffian reading that would seem independently to corroborate Woodson.

To Make a New Race: Gurdjieff, Toomer, and the Harlem Renaissance

Certainly Gehry's manipulation of space and -- at one stage -- of ordinary materials, the empiricism and contingency of that architecture, has much in common with the innovative buildings realized by Schindler in Los Angeles half a century earlier.

SEMINAL SCHINDLER

It may be, however, that our faith-addled President lacks sufficient faith in faith himself, because his executive order establishing faith-based charitable social services contains the inconsistent requirement that such projects be "results oriented," suggesting that they will be evaluated by post-Enlightenment methods involving empiricism and objective measurements.

Religion Starter Kits

Macaulay may have taken his relentless empiricism too far for some modern libertarians' tastes, but it stood him in good stead when he turned to one of the great controversies of his own day, the new factory system that had transformed Britain amid an export-driven globalization of its economy.

Confessions of a Macaulay Fan

In his James Madison Lecture on Constitutional Law, Chief Judge Richard Posner chides both professors and judges for devoting too much attention to constitutional theory and too little time to empiricism.(1) Although I agree with Judge Posner's endorsement of empiricism, I dispute the roles he assigns empiricism and theory.