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Philosophy vocabulary · Epistemology

Empirical

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ɪmˈpɪrɪkəl/adjectiveCore term

In philosophy, empirical means: Based on observation, experience or experiment rather than on pure reasoning or theory.

In Turkish: empirik, görgül, deneyimsel

How it is used

Used for evidence, claims, questions and research (empirical evidence, an empirical question). Philosophers call a question empirical when observation can settle it, unlike a conceptual or normative one. Related to empiricism, but you can use empirical data without being an empiricist.

Example sentences

  1. Whether people are happier in cities is an empirical question, not a philosophical one.

  2. Experimental philosophers collect empirical data on people's moral intuitions.

Common collocations

  • empirical evidence
  • empirical question
  • empirical research
  • empirical claim
  • empiricismThe view that all or most of our knowledge comes from experience through the senses, rather than from reason alone.
  • a posterioriDescribes knowledge or justification that depends on experience or observation, such as knowing that water boils at 100°C at sea level.
  • normativeConcerned with how things ought to be, or with what is good, right or reasonable, rather than with describing how things actually are.
  • inductionReasoning from observed cases to a general conclusion or a prediction, where the premises make the conclusion likely but not certain.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Epistemology

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