empiricism

noun

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em·pir·i·cism | \ im-ˈpir-ə-ˌsi-zəm

, em- \

Definition of empiricism

1a : a former school of medical practice founded on experience without the aid of science or theory

b : quackery, charlatanry

2a : the practice of relying on observation and experiment especially in the natural sciences

b : a tenet arrived at empirically

3 : a theory that all knowledge originates in experience

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Examples of empiricism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Even in his own day, Hobsbawm could sense lurking objections to the basic ideas of the Enlightenment – the great outpouring of reason, empiricism, and egalitarian values that kicked off in the late 17th century. — Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor, "The Enlightenment stressed not only reason, but also empathy," 24 Feb. 2021 There are competing accounts of the authorship of this affirmation of the importance of empiricism to the intellectual method. — Gerard Baker, WSJ, "An Open Mind Is the Key to the Post-Covid Economy," 22 Feb. 2021 The arrival of Nate Silver in 2008, alongside other rigorous statisticians critiquing the media’s use of polls, was a refreshing burst of empiricism. — Tim Fernholz, Quartz, "Polling is driving us mad, but the alternative would be much worse," 2 Nov. 2020 Together, these ideas gave the new school of thought its name, logical empiricism. — Adam Kirsch, The New Yorker, "Philosophy in the Shadow of Nazism," 12 Oct. 2020 The variation in the scaling of each section implies a sense of discontinuity, but also the same spirit of cartographic empiricism that speaks through the wider statistical maps of the 19th century. — Popular Science, "Infographics have helped keep us alive for centuries," 7 Sep. 2020 But even the implications Hilditch draws from his armchair empiricism are faulty. — Aaron Rhodes, National Review, "The American Understanding of Natural Rights," 24 Aug. 2020 At once driven by claims of biological determinism and supported by the authoritarian heft of British empiricism, Francis Galton pioneered an insidious form of human scrutiny that would come to be known as eugenics. — Jessica Helfand, Scientific American, "Darwin, Expression, and the Lasting Legacy of Eugenics," 13 Aug. 2020 The empiricism that matters to Djokovic is his own experience, and his experience consists largely of winning. — Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, "Novak Djokovic Solves the Mind-Body Problem to Win the Australian Open," 2 Feb. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'empiricism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.