Definition

1. Noun:
   • A philosopher who subscribes to empiricism: An empiricist is a thinker or philosopher who believes that knowledge comes primarily from sensory experience and observation of the world, rather than from innate ideas or pure reason.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • John Locke is considered a foundational empiricist in Western philosophy.
  • Modern scientists often adopt an empiricist approach, relying on data from experiments.

Advanced Usage

• "Radical empiricist": A philosopher who holds an extreme form of empiricism, often denying the existence of any knowledge not derived directly from experience.

  • David Hume is frequently described as a radical empiricist.

• "Logical empiricist": A member of a 20th-century philosophical movement (also known as logical positivism) that combined empiricism with insights from logic and mathematics.

  • The Vienna Circle was a group of prominent logical empiricists.

Variants and Related Words

• Empiricism (n): The philosophical theory associated with empiricists, emphasizing experience as the source of knowledge.

  • Empiricism contrasts sharply with rationalism.

• Empirical (adj): Based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory.

  • They gathered empirical evidence to support their hypothesis.

Synonyms

• Experimentalist: One who emphasizes experiment and observation.
• Positivist: A follower of positivism, a system recognizing only observable facts and phenomena.

Related Phrases

• "Empiricist methodology": A research approach grounded in observation and experiment.
  • The study was conducted using a strict empiricist methodology.

Related Idioms

• "To have an empiricist bent": To have a natural tendency to rely on practical experience and observation.
  • As an engineer, she has a strong empiricist bent.

Noun

1. a philosopher who subscribes to empiricism