empiricism.

An approach that grounds knowledge chiefly in observation and experience rather than deduction alone.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• scientific empiricism
• empiricism and rationalism

On the page

The course contrasts empiricism with rationalist accounts of knowledge.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: analysis, explanation. Commonness: moderately common.