Meaning

4 senses
  1. (countable, uncountable)A 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.)

    (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience

  2. (countable, uncountable)A pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation.

    Empirie, Empirismus

  3. (countable, uncountable)Research methodology shaped from empirical philosophy (see above), e.g. surveys, statistics, etc.

    Empirismus

    эмпиризмempirizm

    емпіризмempiryzm

  4. (countable, historical, uncountable)Medicine as practised by an empiric, founded on mere (personal or anecdotal) experience, without the aid of science or a knowledge of principles.

    Near-synonyms: folk medicine; quackery; charlatanry

Examples

1 sentences
  1. The prosaic materialism of the majority condemns as madness the flashes of super-sight which penetrate the common veil of obvious empiricism.

Translations

7 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
philosophical theory:
Русский
By meaning 1
philosophical theory:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
pursuit of knowledge purely through experience:

Forms

plural: empiricisms
Singularempiricism
Pluralempiricisms

regular

Synonyms

5 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • (philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience:empiricist philosophysensationalism
  • medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings:quackery

Word family

10 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

empiricism — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto