Library / English Dictionary

EMPIRICISM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Medical practice and advice based on observation and experience in ignorance of scientific findings

Synonyms:

empiricism; quackery

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("empiricism" is a kind of...):

medical practice (the practice of medicine)

Derivation:

empiric; empirical (relying on medical quackery)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The application of empirical methods in any art or science

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("empiricism" is a kind of...):

investigating; investigation (the work of inquiring into something thoroughly and systematically)

Derivation:

empiric; empirical (derived from experiment and observation rather than theory)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(philosophy) the doctrine that knowledge derives from experience

Synonyms:

empiricism; empiricist philosophy; sensationalism

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("empiricism" is a kind of...):

philosophical doctrine; philosophical theory (a doctrine accepted by adherents to a philosophy)

Domain category:

philosophy (the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "empiricism"):

British empiricism (the predominant philosophical tradition in Great Britain since the 17th century)

experimentalism (an empirical doctrine that advocates experimental principles)

logical positivism; positivism (the form of empiricism that bases all knowledge on perceptual experience (not on intuition or revelation))

Derivation:

empiricist (a philosopher who subscribes to empiricism)

Credits