EMPIRICAL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Empirical

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/ˌɛmpˈɪrɪkəl/ Listen

adjective

Empirical, Empiric adj.

Pertaining to, or founded upon, experiment or experience; depending upon the observation of phenomena; versed in experiments. "In philosophical language, the term empirical means simply what belongs to or is the product of experience or observation." "The village carpenter... lays out his work by empirical rules learnt in his apprenticeship."

Depending upon experience or observation alone, without due regard to science and theory; said especially of medical practice, remedies, etc.; wanting in science and deep insight; as, empiric skill, remedies.

Empirical formula. (Chem.) See under Formula.

Synonyms: See Transcendental.

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Etymology of 'Empirical'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Empirical" Quotes from Famous Books

... logical fallacy, a correct conclusion may be arrived at, provided, too—and herein lies the difficulty—provided that the premises are also true. These premises may be in themselves general statements—how is their truth established? They may be, and often are, the generalisations of the empirical sciences, and must then possess the same degree of uncertainty that these generalisations possess. Some philosophers have contended that certain general ideas are innate, but few would be found nowadays to accept such ...

— Rudolph Eucken • Abel J. Jones

... physical perfection developed thereby, is a sign that essential mastery has been achieved by the artist—the power, that is to say, of a full and free realisation. For such youth, in its very essence, is a matter properly within the limits of the visible, the empirical, world; and in the presentment of it there will be no place for symbolic hint, none of that reliance on the helpful imagination of the spectator, the legitimate scope of which is a large one, when art is dealing with religious ...

— Greek Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater

... which are known to geographers as the Old World; that is to say, you might meet with horses in Europe, Asia, or Africa; but there were none in Australia, and there were none whatsoever in the whole continent of America, from Labrador down to Cape Horn. This is an empirical fact, and it is what is called, stated in the way I have given it you, the 'Geographical Distribution' of ...

— The Present Condition of Organic Nature • Thomas H. Huxley

... principle. Under Stockmar's tutelage he was constantly engaged in enlarging his outlook and in endeavouring to envisage vital problems both theoretically and practically—both with precision and with depth. To one whose mind was thus habitually occupied, the empirical activities of Palmerston, who had no notion what a principle meant, resembled the incoherent vagaries of a tiresome child. What did Palmerston know of economics, of science, of history? What did he care for morality and education? How much consideration had he devoted in the whole course ...

— Queen Victoria • Lytton Strachey

... less empirical way must be found in which to acquire the understanding of sound play. My system of teaching differs from the usual ones, in that it sets down at the outset definite elementary principles of chess strategy by which any move can be gauged at its true value, ...

— Chess Strategy • Edward Lasker

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