Empiricism Meaning
/ɛˈmpɪrəˌsɪzəm/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses. (Often contrasted with rationalism.)
nounA pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation.
Sentence Examples
The scientist relied on empiricism for her research.
Empiricism guides medical treatment decisions.
The scientist based his research on the principles of strict empiricism.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Philosophers debate whether ____ or reason is the source of knowledge.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ is a philosophy based on observation and experience.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree English empiric Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English empiricism From empiric + -ism.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Empiricism teaches us that we are unceasingly and intimately in contact with a full, living, breathing Reality, that experience is a constant communion with the real."
— 1893 Sep, James Seth, “The Truth of Empiricism.”, in The Philosophical Review, volume 2, number 5, page 552:
"He agrees with Kant that Hume's empiricism is refuted de facto by the example of mathematics, whose judgments are synthetic a priori."
— 1950 Dec, Virgil Hinshaw, Jr., “Review of Socratic Method and Critical Philosophy, Selected Essays by Leonard Nelson”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume 11, number 2, page 285:
"Empiricism is the doctrine that human knowledge is grounded on the kind of experience, mostly achieved through the five senses, whose objects are particular events occurring at particular times and in particular places."
— 1958 Apr, Ernest A. Moody, “Empiricism and Metaphysics in Medieval Philosophy”, in The Philosophical Review, volume 67, number 2, page 151:
"Painting needs no explanation or apology. This most religious of art forms belies the pathetic empiricisms of contemporary discussions."
— 2001 Sep, Mark Zimmermann, “The Stillness of Painting: Robert Kingston and His Contemporaries”, in PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, volume 23, number 3, page 71:
"Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know of no way of rooting it out, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the acquiring a general knowledge of the component parts of the human frame, become a part of public education."
— 1796, Mary Wollstonecraft, Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Oxford, published 2009, page 105:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Philosophers debate whether ____ or reason is the source of knowledge.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
____ is a philosophy based on observation and experience.