EMPIRICISM

INTRODUCTIO
N
Definitions:
Empiricismisthetheory
thattheoriginofall
knowledgeissense
experience.

Source:Psillos,Stathis;
Curd,Martin(2010).The
Routledge Companion
to Philosophy of
Science.London:
Routledge.pp.129138.

The term"empiricism"
hasadual etymology,
stemmingbothfromthe
Greekword
for"experience"and
fromthemorespecific
classicalGreekand
Romanusage
of"empiric", referringto
aphysicianwhoseskill
derivesfrompractical
experienceasopposed
toinstructionintheory

Theterm Empirical
alsoreferstothemethod
ofobservationandexpe
rimentusedinthe
naturaland
socialsciences.
Itisafundamental
requirementof
thescientific
methodthat
allhypothesesandtheo
riesmustbetested
againstobservationsof
thenaturalworld,rather
thanrestingsolelyona
priorireasoning,intuitio
norrevelation.

A posteriori (Latin:fromthe
latter)-conceptscanbeappliedonly
onthebasisofexperience

A priori(Latin:fromtheformer)
-conceptscanbeapplied
independentlyofexperience

EXPERIENCEANDEVIDENCE
(SENSORYPERCEPTION)

ONLYKNOWLEDGEHUMANSCANHAVE

Tobuildamore complexbodyofknowledge

INDUCTIONORINDUCTIVEREASONING

Inductive reasoningisalogicalprocessinwhich
multiplepremises,allbelievedtrueorfoundtruemost
ofthetime,arecombinedtoobtainaspecific
conclusion.

HISTORY OF
EMPIRICISM

"tabula rasa"(or
"cleanslate")-
developedasearlyas
the11th Centuryby
thePersian
philosopherAvicenna.
Knowledge is attained
through empirical
familiarity with objects
in this world

Abubacer(orIbn
Tufail)

Hedemonstrated
thetheoryoftabula
rasaasathought
experimentin
whichthemindofa
feralchilddevelops
fromacleanslate
tothatofanadult

Sir Francis
Bacon

Baconis
consideredan
earlyEmpiricist,
throughhis
popularizationof
aninductive me
thodologyfor
scientificinquiry
orscientific
method.

An Essay
Concerning Human
Understanding(1690)
-John Locke

Mindisatabula
rasaonwhich
experiencesleave
theirmarks.

Thebookdeniedthat
humanshaveinnate
ideasorthatanything
isknowablewithout
referenceto
experience.

Treatise
Concerning the
Principles of
Human
Knowledge (1710)
George Berkeley

Thingsonlyexist
eitherasaresultof
theirbeing
perceived,orby
virtueofthefact
thattheyarean
entitydoing the
perceiving.

ScottishphilosopherDavid
Hume
Human knowledgecanbe
dividedintotwo
categories:relations of
ideasandmatters of fact,and
thatideasarederivedfrom
our"impressions"or
sensations.

Humesaidthateventhe
mostbasic beliefsaboutthe
natural world,oreveninthe
existenceoftheself,cannotbe
conclusivelyestablished
byreason,butweacceptthem
anywaybecauseoftheirbasis
ininstinctandcustom.

John Stuart Mill

Inductive
reasoningis
necessary
forallmeaningful
knowledge
(including
mathematics),and
thatmatteris
merely
the"permanent
possibility of
sensation"

Inthelate 19th
Centuryandearly
20th Century,several
forms
ofPragmatismarose,
whichattempted
tointegratethe
apparentlymutuallyexclusiveinsightsof
Empiricism
(experience-based
thinking)
andRationalism(conce
pt-basedthinking).

Logical
Empiricism(orLogical
Positivism),anearly20th
Centuryattemptto
synthesizetheessential
ideasofBritish
Empiricism(astrong
emphasisonsensory
experienceasthebasis
forknowledge)with
certaininsights
frommathematical
logicthathadbeen
developedby Gottlob
Frege,Bertrand
RussellandLudwig
Wittgenstein.