empiricaladj.n.

Brit.

/ɪmˈpɪrᵻkl/,

/ɛmˈpɪrᵻkl/, U.S.

/ᵻmˈpɪrᵻk(ə)l/,

/ɛmˈpɪrᵻk(ə)l/

Forms:

α. 1500s–1600s empericall, 1500s–1600s empiricall, 1500s– empirical, 1600s emperical, 1600s empyricall, 1600s–1700s (1900s– now rare and nonstandard) empyrical.

β. 1600s impyricall.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: Latin empiricus , -al suffix¹.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin empiricus empiric adj. + -al suffix¹. Compare earlier empiric adj., and (with the use as noun) earlier empiric n.In senses A. 3, A. 5b after Middle French, French empirique (see empiric adj.). In sense A. 5a after German empirisch (see empiric adj.). With the β. forms compare the β. forms at empiric n. and adj.

A. adj.

a. Designating a school of medical thought originating in ancient Greece and Rome and holding that treatment should be based on observation and experience rather than on deduction from theoretical principles; (also) belonging to or advocating this school of thought; = empiric adj. 1. Now historical.See the note at empiric n. 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > medical theories or doctrines > [adjective] > other theories or doctrines

empiric?a1425

empirical1569

dogmatical1596

dogmatic1615

Brunonian1781

Thomsonian1833

pneumatic1842

stœchiological1875

solidistic1876

biochemical1885

orificial1887

physiatric1897

naturopathic1901

orgonomic1949

bioethical1971

1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. lxxxii. f. 140^v For this cause they call it [sc. an other secte of Phisicke] Operatiue, that is workinge, deuiding the same into Empericall, & Methodicall [L. in empiricam & methodicam dispartitam].

1596 J. Harington New Disc. Metamorph. Ajax 89 I will not..dilate of the Empiricall physicke, or the dogmaticall and the methodicall.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. f. 48^v And Celsus acknowledgeth it grauely, speaking of the Empirical and Dogmaticall Sects of Phisitians, That Medicines and Cures, were first found out, and then after the Reasons and causes were discoursed: and not the Causes first found out, and by light from them the Medicines and Cures discouered.

1639 J. Woodall Surgeons Mate (rev. ed.) sig. C2 Medicine be composed by a Chymicall, Methodicall, or Empericall Surgeon.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Theoreticks The Theoretic Physicians were such as went on the Foot of Reason; in Opposition to the Empirical Physicians, who went wholly on Experience.

1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. iv. i. 250 That medical sect which was termed the empirical, in contradistinction to the rational and methodical sects.

1953 Isis 44 213 The dogmatic school was rivalled by the new empirical sect that banished the search for hidden causes and referred the physician to experience.

2002 L. Floridi Sextus Empiricus i. 7 The appellation Empiricus is to be connected with his medical orientation.., but his critical remarks on the empirical school of medicine have raised some doubt.

b. Of a medical practitioner: lacking formal academic training or qualifications; practising folk or traditional medicine; (more strongly) engaged in quackery. Also: of or relating to such a practitioner. Cf. empiric adj. 1b. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [adjective] > skilled in medicine > not

empirical1603

the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [adjective] > 19th or 20th century > empirical

empeiral1587

empirical1603

1603 T. Dekker 1603: Wonderfull Yeare sig. D3 Only a band of Desper-vewes, some fewe Empiricall mad-caps (for they could neuer be worth veluet caps) turned themselues into Bees (or more properlie into Drones) and went humming vp and downe.

1660 J. G. tr. W. Goślicki Sage Senator Delineated i. v. 100 And indeed for a Magistrate to be perpetually punishing, is as reproachful, as to see Physicians alwaies killing their Patients with their Quacksalving and Emperical tricks.

a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 304 A Pedlar of Medicines..and Tinker empirical to the Body of Man.

1711 J. Marten Treat. Venereal Dis. (ed. 7) iii. iv. 721 Those Quacking Empirical Fellows I am now going to give warning against, are generally our Renegado Mechanicks, such as have been Jacks of all Trades.

1781 H. Thrale Thraliana 10 Jan. (1942) i. 474 Much like that empirical Chemist was he, Who thought Anima Mundi the great Panacee.

1840 W. H. Ainsworth Tower of London (1864) 66 When all the physicians of the royal household were dismissed, and the duke sent messengers for empirical aid.

1908 S. Baruch Princ. & Pract. Hydrotherapy (ed. 3) 532 And this blighting effect of the empirical espousal of water as a remedy is to-day mainly responsible for the aversion which many physicians feel to its adoption.

1989 R. French & A. Wear Med. Revol. 17th Cent. 7 Empiricism (in the sense associated with Boyle and natural philosophy in the Royal Society) might be viewed as being uncomfortably close to empirical or quack practice in medicine, the two having the same emphasis on remedies.

c. Of a medicine, treatment, etc.: prescribed by a practitioner without academic training; of the nature of a quack remedy; = empiric adj. 1c. Now historical and rare.In figurative context in quot. 1623.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [adjective] > quack medicine

empiricutica1616

empirical1623

1623 M. Pattenson Image Bothe Churches 399 And yf they prooued fruitles medecins, or as empirical purgations (too violent, fitter to kill then to cure,) then to be repealed.

1676 C. Goodall Colledge of Physicians Vindicated 120 The apparent, undeniable, and inexcusable tragedies that have been caused by taking these Empirical Medicines.

1761 W. Lewis Exper. Hist. Materia Medica 435 Some mineral oils..are used by the common people, and often with benefit: the empyrical medicine, called British Oil, is of the same nature with the petrolea.

1839 G. P. R. James Louis XIV IV. 45 Empirical drugs for the cure of various diseases.

1913 Washington Med. Ann. 12 273 Ichthyol is one of our notorious ‘empirical’ drugs.

1959 L. E. Page Philos. Socrates Smith x. 88 Pest houses, nauseating concoctions, empirical drugs, futile appeals to Providence, and utter lack of sanitation gave way to specific serums, antibiotic drugs,..and the elimination of unsanitary breeding grounds for pathogenic organisms.

d. Of medical practice or a medical treatment: based on experience of the outcome of previous cases; based on clinical judgement or diagnosis; (in later use) not dependent upon the results of laboratory investigations or formal clinical trials. Cf. empiric adj. 1d.There is overlap between this sense and sense A. 1a; cf. also sense A. 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [adjective] > empirical

empirical1793

empiric1831

1793 S. Crumpe Inq. Nature & Properties Opium 297 I fear our knowledge of the pathology of this disease [sc. mania] is so limited, that the practice must be, for the most part, empirical.

1825 Lancet 8 Jan. 4/2 It is impossible..to detail to you the stimulants that are applicable to particular cases; the practice in these respects is rather empirical, for we are guided by experience.

1879 Med. Times & Gaz. 11 Jan. 30/1 The following is the first division in our empirical or clinical arrangement of cases of epilepsy.

1915 Illinois Med. Jrnl. 28 191/1 Epsom salt is advised upon empirical grounds, not by mouth but as follows.

1984 Thorax 39 568 Empirical treatment was given without any invasive diagnostic procedures.

2003 Guardian 8 May (Life section) 10/1 Where drug treatments have hitherto been empirical, neurogeneticists are offering to identify specific genes that might precipitate the condition.

2. depreciative. Of a person: lacking knowledge or understanding; ignorant, unlearned; (also) that merely pretends to knowledge or expertise; that is a charlatan. Of behaviour, methods, etc.: lacking a sound basis in knowledge; characterized by presumptuous ignorance or incompetence; characteristic of a charlatan. Cf. sense A. 1b, and empiricism n. 3. Now rare or merged in sense A. 4.In early use sometimes with direct allusion to sense A. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > [adjective]

unlearedeOE

untowenc1000

unwittyc1000

skillessc1175

uncouthc1220

lewda1225

lorelessa1300

simplea1325

layc1330

uncunning1340

untaughtc1340

unknowingc1350

rudea1382

roida1400

unquainta1400

ignorant?c1400

unlearnedc1400

misknowing?a1425

simple-hearted?c1425

unknownc1475

unkenningc1480

unweeting1483

nescienta1500

craftlessc1530

misliterate1532

sillya1547

ingram1553

gross1561

inscient1578

borowe1579

plain-headeda1586

empirical1588

rudeful1589

lack-learning1590

learnless?1593

wotless?1594

ingrant1597

untutored1597

small-knowing1598

uninstructed1598

unlearnt1609

unread1609

unware?1611

nescious1623

inscious1633

inscientifical1660

uninformed1702

unaware1704

unable1721

unsuspecting1776

inerudite1801

ill-informed1824

incognoscent1827

unminded1831

unknowledgeable1837

knowledgelessc1843

parviscient1862

clueless1943

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > a charlatan, fraudster > [adjective]

fraudulentc1430

fraudelous1483

impostorous?1549

empirical1588

quacksalving1607

imposterous1611

imposturous1611

impostrous1612

impostorious1623

mountebankish1660

jackleg1833

jack-legged1839

sharkish1844

spivvy1945

spivvish1948

1588 J. Harvey Discoursiue Probl. conc. Prophesies i. 52 Whereof amongst many [prophecies] of the same stampe, behold one trim Hexameter relique which a certaine vnlearned empirical imposter first shewed me.

1649 H. Hammond Christians Obligations vi. 155 Purifying the onely true expedient yet untried (whilst all others are experimented to be but meer Empeirical state-mountebankry).

1673 M. Locke Present Pract. Musick 4 Now a Master is ranked in the same order with those Empyrical Traders, who have a parcel of Musical Receipts, but understand not one Note of their Composure.

1777 J. Anderson Ess. relating Agric. & Rural Affairs II. Pref. p. xv The influence of these empirical theorists had extended so far, as to infest the minds of sober practical farmers to such a degree, as to render them..incapable of drawing impartial conclusions from the observations that their own experience might have afforded.

1781 V. Knox Liberal Educ. ix. 70 I will here advise all who have resolved to have their idleness encouraged, and their hopes of improvement raised, by empirical promises and pretensions, to shut my book.

1861 G. J. Goschen Theory Foreign Exchanges 84 The application of hasty and empirical measures.

1871 J. Yeats Techn. Hist. Commerce 317 The great majority of accidents are..the results of empirical management.

1909 Minutes Evid. Comm. Poor Laws 228/1 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 4755) XL. 541 The Report, it should be noticed, is a long sustained indictment against the corrupt and empirical management in the matter of poor law administration by local bodies.

1930 League of Nations Jrnl. (Special Suppl. No. 84) 81/1 As regards the third [function for finding peace in Europe]—security—a most empirical attitude persisted, as was shown when war broke out.

3. That pursues knowledge by means of direct observation, investigation, or experiment (as distinct from deductive reasoning, abstract theorizing, or speculation); that relates to or derives from this method of pursuing knowledge. Later also: relating to or espousing empiricism (empiricism n. 6) as a methodology.Now the most frequent sense in general use: see the note at empiricism n. 6.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [adjective] > empirical

experimental1526

empiric1576

empirical1588

experimentate1651

occulta1652

empiric1772

rule of thumb1816

empiricist1864

practico-empirical1913

1588 E. Aggas tr. F. de La Noue Politicke & Mil. Disc. xxiii. 300 This might the Empirical Alcumists [Fr. Alchymistes Empiriques] haue therby learned by so many their false experiments made so long time.

1616 P. Hay Vision Balaams Asse Ep. Ded sig. ¶ ¶ 2 This I doe not performe by dogmaticall grounds of Theologie, but by a briefe Empiricall discourse of such practises as I did obserue in the Church of Rome.

1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar Pref. ⁋46 This part of wisdome..is not to be discerned but by experience: the propositions of this philosophy being Empiricall and best found out by observation.

1666 Bp. S. Parker Free Censvre Platonick Philos. 57 At least when our knowledge proceeds in an Empirical way 'tis solid and palpable, and made so undoubtedly certain from the plain and most undoubted Testimony of Sense and Experience.

1770 tr. J. C. Gottsched Life Wolfius in tr. C. von Wolff Logic p. xxix He assigns the reasons of all that which we learn from the empirical or experimental psychology.

1795 tr. Marquis de Condorcet Outl. Hist. View Progress Human Mind iv. 89 [Politics] is a science rather of facts, and, if I may so speak, empirical, than a true theory founded upon general principles, drawn from nature, and acknowledged by reason.

a1805 J. Robison Syst. Mech. Philos. (1822) II. 451 The empirical method of generalizing natural phenomena, and of deducing general rules.

1869 Buckle's Hist. Civilisation Eng. (new ed.) III. v. 385 The empirical corroboration of his doctrine by direct experiment.

1870 Boston Jrnl. Chem. Aug. 22/2 Neither the empirical experimenter, physicist, or chemist, either by accident or design, has ever been able to produce or construct an organic form, which evolved an organic function.

1928 Q. Rev. Biol. 3 512/2 To the empirical observer there exists only the organism as an object.

1956 J. H. M. Beattie in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. 258 The kind of structure, in the sense in which anthropologists use the term, is a construct or model, based on but not composed of the empirical data.

1990 Educ. Guardian 12 June 36/3 The post will involve empirical studies and require a background in cognitive psychology.

2009 New Phytologist 184 515/2 Continued conversation and collaboration among empirical scientists and modelers is necessary to characterize ecosystem function.

4. Guided by or derived from previous experience or unsystematic observation, without a basis in formal learning or an understanding of underlying principles; influenced by specific events or situations, rather than conforming to general rules, policies, etc.; dependent on trial and error. Cf. empiricism n. 4.Frequently seen as undesirable.

ΚΠ

1641 T. Roe Speech Parl. 4 I thinke it will be a policy both reasonable and profitable, by experience tryed in other States. But leaving these Empiricall practices, I come now to the great and infallible Rule and Remedy.

1767 O. Goldsmith tr. J.-H.-S. Formey Conc. Hist. Philos. i. i. 34 Their [sc. the Phoenicians'] skill was merely empirical, and it is a false assertion that Pythagoras was obliged to them for his opinions in philosophy.

1795 M. Edgeworth Lett. for Lit. Ladies 67 Were I attempting to recommend chemistry to certain Epicurean philosophers, I should say that a good cook was only an empirical chemist.

1843 Standard 26 Oct. 2/6 We are now relying entirely for future discoveries on..the empirical method of advancing agricultural science, and are neglecting the scientific.

1869 Spectator 30 Oct. 1267/2 He could prove or disprove what we, as mere empirical observers..dimly think we see.

1889 Amer. Geologist 3 57 The acquisition of such a mere empirical acquaintance with optical characteristics would not be scientific study.

1921 S. Klyce Universe 132/2 The empirical farmer who plants by the moon's phases is not wholly superstitious, although it is likely that his rules of thumb are now excessively inaccurate.

1956 All Eng. Law Rep. 1 36 It is this empirical development which has so often baffled efforts to reduce the law to systemized definitions.

1980 J. Barnes Metroland iii. ii. 144 The year he had spent on a co-operative farming venture in Wales seemed to have left him with some empirical knowledge, but little understanding of horticultural principle.

2008 B. Donegan War in Eng. 1642–9 (2010) v. 84 The good artilleryman..was an empirical practitioner of a variable art, rather than the operator of a precisely accurate machine.

a. Philosophy. Of an object or thing: knowable or known through experience (esp. as opposed to a priori). Of a concept, idea, etc.: originating in sense experience. Of a statement, etc.: justified, or requiring justification, by reference to sense experience. Cf. empiricism n. 5a.

ΚΠ

1793 tr. I. Kant in T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 92 We have but to discover a criterion by which to distinguish between pure and empirical [Ger. empirischen] knowledge.

1796 F. A. Nitsch Gen. View Kant's Princ. conc. Man 84 Intuitions à priori stand opposed to those à posteriori. The..objects of the first lie within and those of the last without the mind. The first are, on that account, also called pure, and the last empirical intuitions.

1865 R. Lowndes Introd. Philos. Primary Beliefs Introd. §3 28 The above three tests serve to indicate beliefs which cannot be empirical (experiential).

1879 R. Flint Anti-Theistic Theories App. 461 No other world can be known by us than the phenomenal and empirical world, which must be elucidated by materialism and mechanism.

1934 Analysis 2 37 If I give a definition and add the remark that this is how the word defined is as a matter of fact used by people, I shall be adding an empirical proposition, which clearly may be true or not.

1953 Rev. Metaphysics 6 384 The idea of some absolute truth that leads man to get beyond the sphere of the relative and the probable, that is the empirical reality, reveals the absolute.

2003 J. Connelly Metaphysics, Method & Politics i. iii. 149 The empirical concept is the prima facie application of the transcendental concept, its specialised and historically situated embodiment.

b. That espouses or practises philosophical empiricism (empiricism n. 5a) or its principles. Cf. empirical philosopher n. (b) at Compounds.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > empiricism > [adjective]

empirical1838

empiristic1869

1838 C. S. Henry tr. V. Cousin Elements Psychol. 349 It is with the dialectics of Spiritualism, that I have combatted the extravagances of the Empirical school [Fr. école empirique], as they appear in Locke, the representative of that school in the eighteenth century.

1868 tr. V. Cousin in Jrnl. Speculative Philos. 2 88/2 He [sc. Kant] has made the immense concession to the empirical school that these principles are nothing more than regulative laws of thought.

1938 T. E. Jessop tr. R. Metz Hundred Years Brit. Philos. ii. i. 271 A radical criticism of the theoretical and practical doctrines of the empirical movement from Locke to Hume.

1973 B. Magee Popper ii. 33 Some theory is presupposed by any observation. Failure to recognize this is..the flaw in the foundations of the empirical tradition.

2009 Z. Iqbal & M. K. Lewis Islamic Perspective on Governance ii. 38 Cartesian philosophy, by emphasizing thoughts as the indubitable starting points, has influenced European philosophy ever since, both in the rationalist and the empirical camp.

B. n.

A remedy or treatment used by an uneducated or fraudulent practitioner of medicine. Cf. sense A. 1c, and empiric n. 1. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [noun] > a medicine or medicament > worthless or quack

empiric?a1425

empirical1656

powder of post1662

powder-post1790

snake oil1831

1656 J. Smith Compl. Pract. Physick 26 Empiricalls are: Earth-worms provided divers wayes.

1669 N. Fairfax Let. 30 Apr. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1968) V. 505 Should I plead for ye use of Empiricalls..I would say yt if ye use of remedyes found out by others by luck, more yn witt. or by ourselves a posteriori rather yn a priori be enough to denominate one, I am afraid we shall be all so in good earnest.

1854 U.S. Mag. Sci., Arts, Manuf. Dec. 246/3 We would contend that every woman, whether she designs to become a medica or not, should have a knowledge of medicine..of simples, salves, and other useful empiricals.

1942 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 55 202 Now I am quite prepared to believe 90 or 95 per cent of these medicines are sheer useless empiricals.

Compounds

Chiefly in sense A. 3.

empirical ego n. [after German empirisches Ich (1790 or earlier); compare earlier empirical self n.] chiefly Philosophy and Psychology = empirical self n.

ΚΠ

1847 H. E. Lloyd & B. G. Babington tr. E. von Feuchtersleben Princ. Med. Psychol. v. 200 In the harmonious relation of all these radii to the one centre of the empirical ego [Ger. des empirischen Ich], namely, the individual personality.

1870 S. H. Hodgson Theory of Pract. I. ii. 252 Every feeling and every object in the whole empirical ego stands in some relation to it [sc. the emotion of moral sense].

1967 S. J. Todes in R. P. Wolff Kant 164 The distinguishing feature of the empirical ego is that all empirical knowledge must be in terms of it.

2009 Jrnl. Aesthetic Educ. 43 13 The Gita's discipline of karma yoga ‘teaches’ one about the true nature of the Self (as all-inclusive, as not really confined to the individuated empirical ego).

empirical formula n. (a) a formula arrived at by observation rather than by deductive reasoning; (b) [after German empirische Formel (1834 in Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der physischen Wissenschaften 13 186, in a translation of a Swedish text by Berzelius)] Chemistry a formula that gives the proportion or actual number of atoms of the various elements present in a compound, irrespective of their structural arrangement; opposed to rational formula.

ΚΠ

1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 31/1 Those [experiments] from which we must reason at present are too few and too anomalous to be the foundation of such an empirical formula.

1837 T. Richardson tr. J. Liebig Introd. First Elem. Chem. 95 C₄H₁₀O₂ is the empirical formula for alcohol.

1877 Analyst 4 97 (title) Empirical formula for the volume of atmospheric air.

1904 E. B. Titchener tr. W. M. Wundt Princ. Physiol. Psychol. I. 54 A highly complex body, to which Liebreich has assigned the empirical formula C₁₁₆H₂₄₁N₄PO₂₂.

1950 G. D. Mouat Pract. Steel Column 9 Gordon–Rankine formula.—This empirical formula..is obsolete so far as structural work in steel is concerned.

1992 C. A. Smith & E. J. Wood Biosynthesis ii. 49 Ribose is an aldose sugar or aldopentose, whereas ribulose is the corresponding ketose sugar ketopentose. They have identical empirical formulae.

2012 Tunnelling & Underground Space Technol. 30 146/1 Empirical formulas have been developed by many researchers to estimate load bearing capacity of weak floors in underground mines.

empirical law n. Science a law (law n.¹ 17a) arrived at by observation rather than by deductive reasoning.

ΚΠ

1795 tr. Marquis de Condorcet Outl. Hist. View Progress Human Mind viii. 210 To Kepler he [sc. Galileo] is indebted for the acquisition of one of those empirical laws [Fr. ces lois empiriques].

1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. (1849) viii. 70 An empirical law observed by Baron Bode, in the mean distances of the planets.

1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 81 30 One of the most prominent empirical laws relating to the changeable aspect of the Great Red Spot is as follows: The Red Spot is dark and prominent when the other South Tropical markings..are bright or faint.

2001 R. W. Cahn Coming of Materials Sci. vi. 244 Meyer's empirical law then stated that if W is the load and d the chordal diameter of the indentation, W = kdⁿ, where k and n are material constants.

empirical philosopher n. (a) a person who pursues scientific knowledge by means of observation and experiment (now historical and rare); (b) a person who espouses or practises empirical philosophy; = empiricist n. 3a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [noun] > empiricism > one who

empirical philosophera1626

empiricist1867

experientialist1870

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [noun] > scientist > relying on observation or experiment

empiric?c1425

observer1611

empirical philosophera1626

spectator1646

empiricist1867

a1626 F. Bacon Apophthegmes in Baconiana (1679) 58 The Empirical Philosophers are like to Pismires; they only lay up and use their Store. The Rationalists are like to spiders; they spin all out of their own Bowels.

1670 S. Gott Divine Hist. Genesis World x. 330 I have to deal with such Empirical Philosophers, who make Sens alone to be both their Text and Topikes.

1838 F. Haywood tr. I. Kant Critick Pure Reason 363 If the empirical philosopher with his antithesis, had no other object than to destroy the forwardness and temerity of reason.

1873 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 2 23 The gardener is a good empirical philosopher. In his experience of cultivated plants he has learnt many laws which escape the field naturalist.

1939 Proc. Aristotelian Soc. 18 9 For extreme empirical philosophers, unless an entity has..the character shared by colours, sounds, tastes, pains, etc., and feelings and images, that entity cannot be known.

1954 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Sept. 612/2 Empirical philosophers like Locke Berkeley and Hume receive scarcely more than a mention.

2004 N. Bunnin Blackwell Dict. Western Philos. 92/1 The position is popular among empirical philosophers, and is also called the serial theory (because it claims that the self is a series of experiences).

empirical philosophy n. (a) the pursuit of scientific knowledge by means of observation and experiment rather than theoretical analysis or speculation (now rare and historical); cf. empiricism n. 6; (b) an approach to philosophy based on the belief that sense experience rather than abstract reason is the foundation of all knowledge of reality; = empiricism n. 5a.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > empiricism > [noun]

physiology1564

empirism1716

empirical philosophy1733

empiricism1796

descendentalism1833

1733 P. Shaw tr. F. Bacon Novum Organum i. iii, in Philos. Wks. II. 362 The Empirical Philosophy [L. Philosophiae genus Empiricum] produces Opinions more deform'd and monstrous, than either the sophistical or the rational.

1795 J. A. O'Keeffe Ess. Progress Human Understanding 47 When philosophy..places the grounds of its proofs in primary reason or in things known before, and not from experience, it is then called, in the Kantean terms, Pure Elementary Philosophy; but when otherwise, from experience, it is called Empirical or Experimental Philosophy.

1876 Jrnl. Speculative Philos. 10 249 [Bacon] is the founder of empirical philosophy rather than induction in natural science, although he laid the greatest stress upon the value of useful discoveries.

1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience xiv. 374 According to the empirical philosophy..all ideals are matters of relation.

1987 M. Warnock Memory ii. 15 Empirical philosophy having as its aim to show that knowledge must..be wholly derived from experience.

2010 Scotsman (Nexis) 22 Oct. 33 The Scottish Enlightenment..was powered by empirical philosophy, the idea that all knowledge is deduced from experience.

empirical psychologist n. [after empirical psychology n.] an exponent or adherent of empirical psychology.

ΚΠ

1853 J. D. Morell Elements Psychol. i. 19 The empirical psychologist may enumerate his system of mental powers and operations.

1949 Mind 58 124 The empirical psychologist is almost of necessity an epiphenomenalist in practice.

2006 Pluralist 1 108 [Philosophy] does not study norms, as would an empirical psychologist, trying to find the ones we actually follow.

empirical psychology n. now chiefly historical the study of the human mind by means of observation and experiment, rather than by deduction from general principles.Opposed to rational psychology. [Originally (in quot. 1770) probably after German empirische Psychologie (1747 or earlier in a work by C. von Wolff) or its likely model post-classical Latin psychologia empirica (1732 in the title of a work by C. von Wolff, or earlier); it is unclear whether these show precisely the same sense as in the later use by Kant. In quot. 1798 after German empirische Seelenruhe (1786 in the passage translated; compare empirische Psychologie, 1784 in this sense in Kant).]

ΚΠ

1770 tr. J. C. Gottsched Life Wolfius in tr. C. von Wolff Logic p. xxix He assigns the reasons of all that which we learn from the empirical or experimental psychology.

1798 tr. I. Kant Ess. & Treat. I. 78 All that belongs to an empirical psychology [Ger. empirischen Seelenruhe], which would make up the second part of physics.

1851 H. L. Mansel Prolegomena Logica ix. 275 Among modern philosophers, empirical psychology..is frequently classified as metaphysical.

1996 A. R. Gilgen et al. Post-Soviet Perspectives on Russ. Psychol. 217 The emergence of empirical psychology resulted in renaming pneumatology ‘rational psychology’.

empirical self n. [perhaps after German empirisches Selbst (1794 or earlier); compare empirical ego n.] chiefly Philosophy and Psychology that aspect of the self knowable by experience; the conscious self (frequently contrasted with a higher or transcendental self beyond ordinary knowledge or awareness).

ΚΠ

a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1839) IV. 1 I have too much confounded with that complexus of visual images, cycles or customs of sensations..which make up our empirical self.

1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 291 The Empirical Self of each of us is all that he is tempted to call by the name of me.

1963 R. P. Wolff Kant's Theory Mental Activ. i. ii. 144 Only the empirical self is knowable.

2005 Gender & Society 19 348 Knowledge of self means knowing that the empirical self, the self who is attached to meeting the expectations of others, is also illusory. In contrast to the empirical self is the awakened self, the self who possesses Buddha nature.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	empirical
释义	empiricaladj.n. Brit. /ɪmˈpɪrᵻkl/, /ɛmˈpɪrᵻkl/, U.S. /ᵻmˈpɪrᵻk(ə)l/, /ɛmˈpɪrᵻk(ə)l/ Forms: α. 1500s–1600s empericall, 1500s–1600s empiricall, 1500s– empirical, 1600s emperical, 1600s empyricall, 1600s–1700s (1900s– now rare and nonstandard) empyrical. β. 1600s impyricall. Origin: A borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element. Etymons: Latin empiricus , -al suffix¹. Etymology: < post-classical Latin empiricus empiric adj. + -al suffix¹. Compare earlier empiric adj., and (with the use as noun) earlier empiric n.In senses A. 3, A. 5b after Middle French, French empirique (see empiric adj.). In sense A. 5a after German empirisch (see empiric adj.). With the β. forms compare the β. forms at empiric n. and adj. A. adj. 1. a. Designating a school of medical thought originating in ancient Greece and Rome and holding that treatment should be based on observation and experience rather than on deduction from theoretical principles; (also) belonging to or advocating this school of thought; = empiric adj. 1. Now historical.See the note at empiric n. 2a. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > medical theories or doctrines > [adjective] > other theories or doctrines empiric?a1425 empirical1569 dogmatical1596 dogmatic1615 Brunonian1781 Thomsonian1833 pneumatic1842 stœchiological1875 solidistic1876 biochemical1885 orificial1887 physiatric1897 naturopathic1901 orgonomic1949 bioethical1971 1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. lxxxii. f. 140^v For this cause they call it [sc. an other secte of Phisicke] Operatiue, that is workinge, deuiding the same into Empericall, & Methodicall [L. in empiricam & methodicam dispartitam]. 1596 J. Harington New Disc. Metamorph. Ajax 89 I will not..dilate of the Empiricall physicke, or the dogmaticall and the methodicall. 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. f. 48^v And Celsus acknowledgeth it grauely, speaking of the Empirical and Dogmaticall Sects of Phisitians, That Medicines and Cures, were first found out, and then after the Reasons and causes were discoursed: and not the Causes first found out, and by light from them the Medicines and Cures discouered. View more context for this quotation 1639 J. Woodall Surgeons Mate (rev. ed.) sig. C2 Medicine be composed by a Chymicall, Methodicall, or Empericall Surgeon. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Theoreticks The Theoretic Physicians were such as went on the Foot of Reason; in Opposition to the Empirical Physicians, who went wholly on Experience. 1837 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. I. iv. i. 250 That medical sect which was termed the empirical, in contradistinction to the rational and methodical sects. 1953 Isis 44 213 The dogmatic school was rivalled by the new empirical sect that banished the search for hidden causes and referred the physician to experience. 2002 L. Floridi Sextus Empiricus i. 7 The appellation Empiricus is to be connected with his medical orientation.., but his critical remarks on the empirical school of medicine have raised some doubt. b. Of a medical practitioner: lacking formal academic training or qualifications; practising folk or traditional medicine; (more strongly) engaged in quackery. Also: of or relating to such a practitioner. Cf. empiric adj. 1b. Now historical. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [adjective] > skilled in medicine > not empirical1603 the world > health and disease > healing > healer > physician > [adjective] > 19th or 20th century > empirical empeiral1587 empirical1603 1603 T. Dekker 1603: Wonderfull Yeare sig. D3 Only a band of Desper-vewes, some fewe Empiricall mad-caps (for they could neuer be worth veluet caps) turned themselues into Bees (or more properlie into Drones) and went humming vp and downe. 1660 J. G. tr. W. Goślicki Sage Senator Delineated i. v. 100 And indeed for a Magistrate to be perpetually punishing, is as reproachful, as to see Physicians alwaies killing their Patients with their Quacksalving and Emperical tricks. a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 304 A Pedlar of Medicines..and Tinker empirical to the Body of Man. 1711 J. Marten Treat. Venereal Dis. (ed. 7) iii. iv. 721 Those Quacking Empirical Fellows I am now going to give warning against, are generally our Renegado Mechanicks, such as have been Jacks of all Trades. 1781 H. Thrale Thraliana 10 Jan. (1942) i. 474 Much like that empirical Chemist was he, Who thought Anima Mundi the great Panacee. 1840 W. H. Ainsworth Tower of London (1864) 66 When all the physicians of the royal household were dismissed, and the duke sent messengers for empirical aid. 1908 S. Baruch Princ. & Pract. Hydrotherapy (ed. 3) 532 And this blighting effect of the empirical espousal of water as a remedy is to-day mainly responsible for the aversion which many physicians feel to its adoption. 1989 R. French & A. Wear Med. Revol. 17th Cent. 7 Empiricism (in the sense associated with Boyle and natural philosophy in the Royal Society) might be viewed as being uncomfortably close to empirical or quack practice in medicine, the two having the same emphasis on remedies. c. Of a medicine, treatment, etc.: prescribed by a practitioner without academic training; of the nature of a quack remedy; = empiric adj. 1c. Now historical and rare.In figurative context in quot. 1623. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [adjective] > quack medicine empiricutica1616 empirical1623 1623 M. Pattenson Image Bothe Churches 399 And yf they prooued fruitles medecins, or as empirical purgations (too violent, fitter to kill then to cure,) then to be repealed. 1676 C. Goodall Colledge of Physicians Vindicated 120 The apparent, undeniable, and inexcusable tragedies that have been caused by taking these Empirical Medicines. 1761 W. Lewis Exper. Hist. Materia Medica 435 Some mineral oils..are used by the common people, and often with benefit: the empyrical medicine, called British Oil, is of the same nature with the petrolea. 1839 G. P. R. James Louis XIV IV. 45 Empirical drugs for the cure of various diseases. 1913 Washington Med. Ann. 12 273 Ichthyol is one of our notorious ‘empirical’ drugs. 1959 L. E. Page Philos. Socrates Smith x. 88 Pest houses, nauseating concoctions, empirical drugs, futile appeals to Providence, and utter lack of sanitation gave way to specific serums, antibiotic drugs,..and the elimination of unsanitary breeding grounds for pathogenic organisms. d. Of medical practice or a medical treatment: based on experience of the outcome of previous cases; based on clinical judgement or diagnosis; (in later use) not dependent upon the results of laboratory investigations or formal clinical trials. Cf. empiric adj. 1d.There is overlap between this sense and sense A. 1a; cf. also sense A. 3. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [adjective] > empirical empirical1793 empiric1831 1793 S. Crumpe Inq. Nature & Properties Opium 297 I fear our knowledge of the pathology of this disease [sc. mania] is so limited, that the practice must be, for the most part, empirical. 1825 Lancet 8 Jan. 4/2 It is impossible..to detail to you the stimulants that are applicable to particular cases; the practice in these respects is rather empirical, for we are guided by experience. 1879 Med. Times & Gaz. 11 Jan. 30/1 The following is the first division in our empirical or clinical arrangement of cases of epilepsy. 1915 Illinois Med. Jrnl. 28 191/1 Epsom salt is advised upon empirical grounds, not by mouth but as follows. 1984 Thorax 39 568 Empirical treatment was given without any invasive diagnostic procedures. 2003 Guardian 8 May (Life section) 10/1 Where drug treatments have hitherto been empirical, neurogeneticists are offering to identify specific genes that might precipitate the condition. 2. depreciative. Of a person: lacking knowledge or understanding; ignorant, unlearned; (also) that merely pretends to knowledge or expertise; that is a charlatan. Of behaviour, methods, etc.: lacking a sound basis in knowledge; characterized by presumptuous ignorance or incompetence; characteristic of a charlatan. Cf. sense A. 1b, and empiricism n. 3. Now rare or merged in sense A. 4.In early use sometimes with direct allusion to sense A. 1b. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > [adjective] unlearedeOE untowenc1000 unwittyc1000 skillessc1175 uncouthc1220 lewda1225 lorelessa1300 simplea1325 layc1330 uncunning1340 untaughtc1340 unknowingc1350 rudea1382 roida1400 unquainta1400 ignorant?c1400 unlearnedc1400 misknowing?a1425 simple-hearted?c1425 unknownc1475 unkenningc1480 unweeting1483 nescienta1500 craftlessc1530 misliterate1532 sillya1547 ingram1553 gross1561 inscient1578 borowe1579 plain-headeda1586 empirical1588 rudeful1589 lack-learning1590 learnless?1593 wotless?1594 ingrant1597 untutored1597 small-knowing1598 uninstructed1598 unlearnt1609 unread1609 unware?1611 nescious1623 inscious1633 inscientifical1660 uninformed1702 unaware1704 unable1721 unsuspecting1776 inerudite1801 ill-informed1824 incognoscent1827 unminded1831 unknowledgeable1837 knowledgelessc1843 parviscient1862 clueless1943 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > a charlatan, fraudster > [adjective] fraudulentc1430 fraudelous1483 impostorous?1549 empirical1588 quacksalving1607 imposterous1611 imposturous1611 impostrous1612 impostorious1623 mountebankish1660 jackleg1833 jack-legged1839 sharkish1844 spivvy1945 spivvish1948 1588 J. Harvey Discoursiue Probl. conc. Prophesies i. 52 Whereof amongst many [prophecies] of the same stampe, behold one trim Hexameter relique which a certaine vnlearned empirical imposter first shewed me. 1649 H. Hammond Christians Obligations vi. 155 Purifying the onely true expedient yet untried (whilst all others are experimented to be but meer Empeirical state-mountebankry). 1673 M. Locke Present Pract. Musick 4 Now a Master is ranked in the same order with those Empyrical Traders, who have a parcel of Musical Receipts, but understand not one Note of their Composure. 1777 J. Anderson Ess. relating Agric. & Rural Affairs II. Pref. p. xv The influence of these empirical theorists had extended so far, as to infest the minds of sober practical farmers to such a degree, as to render them..incapable of drawing impartial conclusions from the observations that their own experience might have afforded. 1781 V. Knox Liberal Educ. ix. 70 I will here advise all who have resolved to have their idleness encouraged, and their hopes of improvement raised, by empirical promises and pretensions, to shut my book. 1861 G. J. Goschen Theory Foreign Exchanges 84 The application of hasty and empirical measures. 1871 J. Yeats Techn. Hist. Commerce 317 The great majority of accidents are..the results of empirical management. 1909 Minutes Evid. Comm. Poor Laws 228/1 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 4755) XL. 541 The Report, it should be noticed, is a long sustained indictment against the corrupt and empirical management in the matter of poor law administration by local bodies. 1930 League of Nations Jrnl. (Special Suppl. No. 84) 81/1 As regards the third [function for finding peace in Europe]—security—a most empirical attitude persisted, as was shown when war broke out. 3. That pursues knowledge by means of direct observation, investigation, or experiment (as distinct from deductive reasoning, abstract theorizing, or speculation); that relates to or derives from this method of pursuing knowledge. Later also: relating to or espousing empiricism (empiricism n. 6) as a methodology.Now the most frequent sense in general use: see the note at empiricism n. 6. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [adjective] > empirical experimental1526 empiric1576 empirical1588 experimentate1651 occulta1652 empiric1772 rule of thumb1816 empiricist1864 practico-empirical1913 1588 E. Aggas tr. F. de La Noue Politicke & Mil. Disc. xxiii. 300 This might the Empirical Alcumists [Fr. Alchymistes Empiriques] haue therby learned by so many their false experiments made so long time. 1616 P. Hay Vision Balaams Asse Ep. Ded sig. ¶ ¶ 2 This I doe not performe by dogmaticall grounds of Theologie, but by a briefe Empiricall discourse of such practises as I did obserue in the Church of Rome. 1649 Bp. J. Taylor Great Exemplar Pref. ⁋46 This part of wisdome..is not to be discerned but by experience: the propositions of this philosophy being Empiricall and best found out by observation. 1666 Bp. S. Parker Free Censvre Platonick Philos. 57 At least when our knowledge proceeds in an Empirical way 'tis solid and palpable, and made so undoubtedly certain from the plain and most undoubted Testimony of Sense and Experience. 1770 tr. J. C. Gottsched Life Wolfius in tr. C. von Wolff Logic p. xxix He assigns the reasons of all that which we learn from the empirical or experimental psychology. 1795 tr. Marquis de Condorcet Outl. Hist. View Progress Human Mind iv. 89 [Politics] is a science rather of facts, and, if I may so speak, empirical, than a true theory founded upon general principles, drawn from nature, and acknowledged by reason. a1805 J. Robison Syst. Mech. Philos. (1822) II. 451 The empirical method of generalizing natural phenomena, and of deducing general rules. 1869 Buckle's Hist. Civilisation Eng. (new ed.) III. v. 385 The empirical corroboration of his doctrine by direct experiment. 1870 Boston Jrnl. Chem. Aug. 22/2 Neither the empirical experimenter, physicist, or chemist, either by accident or design, has ever been able to produce or construct an organic form, which evolved an organic function. 1928 Q. Rev. Biol. 3 512/2 To the empirical observer there exists only the organism as an object. 1956 J. H. M. Beattie in A. Pryce-Jones New Outl. Mod. Knowl. 258 The kind of structure, in the sense in which anthropologists use the term, is a construct or model, based on but not composed of the empirical data. 1990 Educ. Guardian 12 June 36/3 The post will involve empirical studies and require a background in cognitive psychology. 2009 New Phytologist 184 515/2 Continued conversation and collaboration among empirical scientists and modelers is necessary to characterize ecosystem function. 4. Guided by or derived from previous experience or unsystematic observation, without a basis in formal learning or an understanding of underlying principles; influenced by specific events or situations, rather than conforming to general rules, policies, etc.; dependent on trial and error. Cf. empiricism n. 4.Frequently seen as undesirable. ΚΠ 1641 T. Roe Speech Parl. 4 I thinke it will be a policy both reasonable and profitable, by experience tryed in other States. But leaving these Empiricall practices, I come now to the great and infallible Rule and Remedy. 1767 O. Goldsmith tr. J.-H.-S. Formey Conc. Hist. Philos. i. i. 34 Their [sc. the Phoenicians'] skill was merely empirical, and it is a false assertion that Pythagoras was obliged to them for his opinions in philosophy. 1795 M. Edgeworth Lett. for Lit. Ladies 67 Were I attempting to recommend chemistry to certain Epicurean philosophers, I should say that a good cook was only an empirical chemist. 1843 Standard 26 Oct. 2/6 We are now relying entirely for future discoveries on..the empirical method of advancing agricultural science, and are neglecting the scientific. 1869 Spectator 30 Oct. 1267/2 He could prove or disprove what we, as mere empirical observers..dimly think we see. 1889 Amer. Geologist 3 57 The acquisition of such a mere empirical acquaintance with optical characteristics would not be scientific study. 1921 S. Klyce Universe 132/2 The empirical farmer who plants by the moon's phases is not wholly superstitious, although it is likely that his rules of thumb are now excessively inaccurate. 1956 All Eng. Law Rep. 1 36 It is this empirical development which has so often baffled efforts to reduce the law to systemized definitions. 1980 J. Barnes Metroland iii. ii. 144 The year he had spent on a co-operative farming venture in Wales seemed to have left him with some empirical knowledge, but little understanding of horticultural principle. 2008 B. Donegan War in Eng. 1642–9 (2010) v. 84 The good artilleryman..was an empirical practitioner of a variable art, rather than the operator of a precisely accurate machine. 5. a. Philosophy. Of an object or thing: knowable or known through experience (esp. as opposed to a priori). Of a concept, idea, etc.: originating in sense experience. Of a statement, etc.: justified, or requiring justification, by reference to sense experience. Cf. empiricism n. 5a. ΚΠ 1793 tr. I. Kant in T. Beddoes Observ. Nature Demonstrative Evid. 92 We have but to discover a criterion by which to distinguish between pure and empirical [Ger. empirischen] knowledge. 1796 F. A. Nitsch Gen. View Kant's Princ. conc. Man 84 Intuitions à priori stand opposed to those à posteriori. The..objects of the first lie within and those of the last without the mind. The first are, on that account, also called pure, and the last empirical intuitions. 1865 R. Lowndes Introd. Philos. Primary Beliefs Introd. §3 28 The above three tests serve to indicate beliefs which cannot be empirical (experiential). 1879 R. Flint Anti-Theistic Theories App. 461 No other world can be known by us than the phenomenal and empirical world, which must be elucidated by materialism and mechanism. 1934 Analysis 2 37 If I give a definition and add the remark that this is how the word defined is as a matter of fact used by people, I shall be adding an empirical proposition, which clearly may be true or not. 1953 Rev. Metaphysics 6 384 The idea of some absolute truth that leads man to get beyond the sphere of the relative and the probable, that is the empirical reality, reveals the absolute. 2003 J. Connelly Metaphysics, Method & Politics i. iii. 149 The empirical concept is the prima facie application of the transcendental concept, its specialised and historically situated embodiment. b. That espouses or practises philosophical empiricism (empiricism n. 5a) or its principles. Cf. empirical philosopher n. (b) at Compounds. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > empiricism > [adjective] empirical1838 empiristic1869 1838 C. S. Henry tr. V. Cousin Elements Psychol. 349 It is with the dialectics of Spiritualism, that I have combatted the extravagances of the Empirical school [Fr. école empirique], as they appear in Locke, the representative of that school in the eighteenth century. 1868 tr. V. Cousin in Jrnl. Speculative Philos. 2 88/2 He [sc. Kant] has made the immense concession to the empirical school that these principles are nothing more than regulative laws of thought. 1938 T. E. Jessop tr. R. Metz Hundred Years Brit. Philos. ii. i. 271 A radical criticism of the theoretical and practical doctrines of the empirical movement from Locke to Hume. 1973 B. Magee Popper ii. 33 Some theory is presupposed by any observation. Failure to recognize this is..the flaw in the foundations of the empirical tradition. 2009 Z. Iqbal & M. K. Lewis Islamic Perspective on Governance ii. 38 Cartesian philosophy, by emphasizing thoughts as the indubitable starting points, has influenced European philosophy ever since, both in the rationalist and the empirical camp. B. n. A remedy or treatment used by an uneducated or fraudulent practitioner of medicine. Cf. sense A. 1c, and empiric n. 1. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > [noun] > a medicine or medicament > worthless or quack empiric?a1425 empirical1656 powder of post1662 powder-post1790 snake oil1831 1656 J. Smith Compl. Pract. Physick 26 Empiricalls are: Earth-worms provided divers wayes. 1669 N. Fairfax Let. 30 Apr. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1968) V. 505 Should I plead for ye use of Empiricalls..I would say yt if ye use of remedyes found out by others by luck, more yn witt. or by ourselves a posteriori rather yn a priori be enough to denominate one, I am afraid we shall be all so in good earnest. 1854 U.S. Mag. Sci., Arts, Manuf. Dec. 246/3 We would contend that every woman, whether she designs to become a medica or not, should have a knowledge of medicine..of simples, salves, and other useful empiricals. 1942 Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 55 202 Now I am quite prepared to believe 90 or 95 per cent of these medicines are sheer useless empiricals. Compounds Chiefly in sense A. 3. empirical ego n. [after German empirisches Ich (1790 or earlier); compare earlier empirical self n.] chiefly Philosophy and Psychology = empirical self n. ΚΠ 1847 H. E. Lloyd & B. G. Babington tr. E. von Feuchtersleben Princ. Med. Psychol. v. 200 In the harmonious relation of all these radii to the one centre of the empirical ego [Ger. des empirischen Ich], namely, the individual personality. 1870 S. H. Hodgson Theory of Pract. I. ii. 252 Every feeling and every object in the whole empirical ego stands in some relation to it [sc. the emotion of moral sense]. 1967 S. J. Todes in R. P. Wolff Kant 164 The distinguishing feature of the empirical ego is that all empirical knowledge must be in terms of it. 2009 Jrnl. Aesthetic Educ. 43 13 The Gita's discipline of karma yoga ‘teaches’ one about the true nature of the Self (as all-inclusive, as not really confined to the individuated empirical ego). empirical formula n. (a) a formula arrived at by observation rather than by deductive reasoning; (b) [after German empirische Formel (1834 in Jahresbericht über die Fortschritte der physischen Wissenschaften 13 186, in a translation of a Swedish text by Berzelius)] Chemistry a formula that gives the proportion or actual number of atoms of the various elements present in a compound, irrespective of their structural arrangement; opposed to rational formula. ΚΠ 1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 31/1 Those [experiments] from which we must reason at present are too few and too anomalous to be the foundation of such an empirical formula. 1837 T. Richardson tr. J. Liebig Introd. First Elem. Chem. 95 C₄H₁₀O₂ is the empirical formula for alcohol. 1877 Analyst 4 97 (title) Empirical formula for the volume of atmospheric air. 1904 E. B. Titchener tr. W. M. Wundt Princ. Physiol. Psychol. I. 54 A highly complex body, to which Liebreich has assigned the empirical formula C₁₁₆H₂₄₁N₄PO₂₂. 1950 G. D. Mouat Pract. Steel Column 9 Gordon–Rankine formula.—This empirical formula..is obsolete so far as structural work in steel is concerned. 1992 C. A. Smith & E. J. Wood Biosynthesis ii. 49 Ribose is an aldose sugar or aldopentose, whereas ribulose is the corresponding ketose sugar ketopentose. They have identical empirical formulae. 2012 Tunnelling & Underground Space Technol. 30 146/1 Empirical formulas have been developed by many researchers to estimate load bearing capacity of weak floors in underground mines. empirical law n. Science a law (law n.¹ 17a) arrived at by observation rather than by deductive reasoning. ΚΠ 1795 tr. Marquis de Condorcet Outl. Hist. View Progress Human Mind viii. 210 To Kepler he [sc. Galileo] is indebted for the acquisition of one of those empirical laws [Fr. ces lois empiriques]. 1834 M. Somerville On Connexion Physical Sci. (1849) viii. 70 An empirical law observed by Baron Bode, in the mean distances of the planets. 1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 81 30 One of the most prominent empirical laws relating to the changeable aspect of the Great Red Spot is as follows: The Red Spot is dark and prominent when the other South Tropical markings..are bright or faint. 2001 R. W. Cahn Coming of Materials Sci. vi. 244 Meyer's empirical law then stated that if W is the load and d the chordal diameter of the indentation, W = kdⁿ, where k and n are material constants. empirical philosopher n. (a) a person who pursues scientific knowledge by means of observation and experiment (now historical and rare); (b) a person who espouses or practises empirical philosophy; = empiricist n. 3a. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > [noun] > empiricism > one who empirical philosophera1626 empiricist1867 experientialist1870 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [noun] > scientist > relying on observation or experiment empiric?c1425 observer1611 empirical philosophera1626 spectator1646 empiricist1867 a1626 F. Bacon Apophthegmes in Baconiana (1679) 58 The Empirical Philosophers are like to Pismires; they only lay up and use their Store. The Rationalists are like to spiders; they spin all out of their own Bowels. 1670 S. Gott Divine Hist. Genesis World x. 330 I have to deal with such Empirical Philosophers, who make Sens alone to be both their Text and Topikes. 1838 F. Haywood tr. I. Kant Critick Pure Reason 363 If the empirical philosopher with his antithesis, had no other object than to destroy the forwardness and temerity of reason. 1873 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 2 23 The gardener is a good empirical philosopher. In his experience of cultivated plants he has learnt many laws which escape the field naturalist. 1939 Proc. Aristotelian Soc. 18 9 For extreme empirical philosophers, unless an entity has..the character shared by colours, sounds, tastes, pains, etc., and feelings and images, that entity cannot be known. 1954 Times Lit. Suppl. 24 Sept. 612/2 Empirical philosophers like Locke Berkeley and Hume receive scarcely more than a mention. 2004 N. Bunnin Blackwell Dict. Western Philos. 92/1 The position is popular among empirical philosophers, and is also called the serial theory (because it claims that the self is a series of experiences). empirical philosophy n. (a) the pursuit of scientific knowledge by means of observation and experiment rather than theoretical analysis or speculation (now rare and historical); cf. empiricism n. 6; (b) an approach to philosophy based on the belief that sense experience rather than abstract reason is the foundation of all knowledge of reality; = empiricism n. 5a. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > empiricism > [noun] physiology1564 empirism1716 empirical philosophy1733 empiricism1796 descendentalism1833 1733 P. Shaw tr. F. Bacon Novum Organum i. iii, in Philos. Wks. II. 362 The Empirical Philosophy [L. Philosophiae genus Empiricum] produces Opinions more deform'd and monstrous, than either the sophistical or the rational. 1795 J. A. O'Keeffe Ess. Progress Human Understanding 47 When philosophy..places the grounds of its proofs in primary reason or in things known before, and not from experience, it is then called, in the Kantean terms, Pure Elementary Philosophy; but when otherwise, from experience, it is called Empirical or Experimental Philosophy. 1876 Jrnl. Speculative Philos. 10 249 [Bacon] is the founder of empirical philosophy rather than induction in natural science, although he laid the greatest stress upon the value of useful discoveries. 1902 W. James Varieties Relig. Experience xiv. 374 According to the empirical philosophy..all ideals are matters of relation. 1987 M. Warnock Memory ii. 15 Empirical philosophy having as its aim to show that knowledge must..be wholly derived from experience. 2010 Scotsman (Nexis) 22 Oct. 33 The Scottish Enlightenment..was powered by empirical philosophy, the idea that all knowledge is deduced from experience. empirical psychologist n. [after empirical psychology n.] an exponent or adherent of empirical psychology. ΚΠ 1853 J. D. Morell Elements Psychol. i. 19 The empirical psychologist may enumerate his system of mental powers and operations. 1949 Mind 58 124 The empirical psychologist is almost of necessity an epiphenomenalist in practice. 2006 Pluralist 1 108 [Philosophy] does not study norms, as would an empirical psychologist, trying to find the ones we actually follow. empirical psychology n. now chiefly historical the study of the human mind by means of observation and experiment, rather than by deduction from general principles.Opposed to rational psychology. [Originally (in quot. 1770) probably after German empirische Psychologie (1747 or earlier in a work by C. von Wolff) or its likely model post-classical Latin psychologia empirica (1732 in the title of a work by C. von Wolff, or earlier); it is unclear whether these show precisely the same sense as in the later use by Kant. In quot. 1798 after German empirische Seelenruhe (1786 in the passage translated; compare empirische Psychologie, 1784 in this sense in Kant).] ΚΠ 1770 tr. J. C. Gottsched Life Wolfius in tr. C. von Wolff Logic p. xxix He assigns the reasons of all that which we learn from the empirical or experimental psychology. 1798 tr. I. Kant Ess. & Treat. I. 78 All that belongs to an empirical psychology [Ger. empirischen Seelenruhe], which would make up the second part of physics. 1851 H. L. Mansel Prolegomena Logica ix. 275 Among modern philosophers, empirical psychology..is frequently classified as metaphysical. 1996 A. R. Gilgen et al. Post-Soviet Perspectives on Russ. Psychol. 217 The emergence of empirical psychology resulted in renaming pneumatology ‘rational psychology’. empirical self n. [perhaps after German empirisches Selbst (1794 or earlier); compare empirical ego n.] chiefly Philosophy and Psychology that aspect of the self knowable by experience; the conscious self (frequently contrasted with a higher or transcendental self beyond ordinary knowledge or awareness). ΚΠ a1834 S. T. Coleridge Lit. Remains (1839) IV. 1 I have too much confounded with that complexus of visual images, cycles or customs of sensations..which make up our empirical self. 1890 W. James Princ. Psychol. I. x. 291 The Empirical Self of each of us is all that he is tempted to call by the name of me. 1963 R. P. Wolff Kant's Theory Mental Activ. i. ii. 144 Only the empirical self is knowable. 2005 Gender & Society 19 348 Knowledge of self means knowing that the empirical self, the self who is attached to meeting the expectations of others, is also illusory. In contrast to the empirical self is the awakened self, the self who possesses Buddha nature. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.n.1569
随便看	self-seeking self-seekingness self-select self-selected self-selecting self-selection self-selection bias self-selections self-selects self-sentenced self-serve self-service self-serving self-servingly self-set self-setting self-shielded self-shielding self-shifter self-shot self-similar self-similarity self-slain self-slaughter self-slaughtered