EMPIRICISM

Empiricism

Empiricism is a theory of knowledge which states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism, and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence, especially sensory experience, in the formation of ideas, over the notion of innate ideas or traditions; empiricists may argue however that traditions arise due to relations of previous sense experiences.

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empiricism

Noun

  1. A pursuit of knowledge purely through experience, especially by means of observation and sometimes by experimentation.
  2. 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.)
  3. A practice of medicine founded on mere experience, without the aid of science or a knowledge of principles; ignorant and unscientific practice; the method or practice of an empiric.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: empiricism
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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