empiricism
/ɛmpˈɪɹəsˌɪzəm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.48 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
5
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.)
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Research methodology shaped from empirical philosophy (see above), e.g. surveys, statistics, etc.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "He agrees with Kant that Hume's empiricism is refuted de facto by the example of mathematics, whose judgments are synthetic a priori."
- "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."
- "Our whole life in some of its highest and most important aspects is simply empiricism. Empiricism is only another word for experience."
- "I have found no better expression than "religious" for confidence in the rational nature of reality.... Whenever this feeling is absent, science degenerates into uninspired empiricism."
- "Painting needs no explanation or apology. This most religious of art forms belies the pathetic empiricisms of contemporary discussions."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Ancient Greek ἐν (en) Ancient Greek ἐν- (en-) Proto-Indo-European *per- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ih₂ Proto-Indo-European *périh₂ Proto-Hellenic *péřřa Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra) Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek ἔμπειρος (émpeiros) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek ἐμπειρία (empeiría) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek ἐμπειρῐκός (empeirĭkós)bor. Latin empīricuslbor. English empiric Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō 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.