Empirical evidence - Wikipedia Empirical evidence From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Knowledge acquired by means of the senses "Empirical" redirects here. For other uses, see Empirical (disambiguation). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Empirical evidence" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Empirical evidence is the information received by means of the senses, particularly by observation and documentation of patterns and behavior through experimentation.[1] The term comes from the Greek word for experience, ἐμπειρία (empeiría). After Immanuel Kant, in philosophy, it is common to call knowledge gained by means of empirical evidence a posteriori knowledge (in contrast to a priori knowledge). Contents 1 Meaning 2 See also 3 Footnotes 4 References 5 External links Meaning[edit] Empirical evidence is information that verifies the truth (which accurately corresponds to reality) or falsity (inaccuracy) of a claim. In the empiricist view, one can claim to have knowledge only when based on empirical evidence (although some empiricists believe that there are other ways of gaining knowledge). This stands in contrast to the rationalist view under which reason or reflection alone is considered evidence for the truth or falsity of some propositions.[2] Empirical evidence is information acquired by observation or experimentation, in the form of recorded data, which may be the subject of analysis (e.g. by scientists). This is the primary source of empirical evidence. Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research.[2] In a second sense "empirical" in science may be synonymous with "experimental." In this sense, an empirical result is an experimental observation. In this context, the term semi-empirical is used for qualifying theoretical methods that use, in part, basic axioms or postulated scientific laws and experimental results. Such methods are opposed to theoretical ab initio methods, which are purely deductive and based on first principles. Typical examples of both ab initio and semi-empirical methods can be found in computational chemistry. In science, empirical evidence is required for a hypothesis to gain acceptance in the scientific community. Normally, this validation is achieved by the scientific method of forming a hypothesis, experimental design, peer review, reproduction of results, conference presentation, and journal publication. This requires rigorous communication of hypothesis (usually expressed in mathematics), experimental constraints and controls (expressed necessarily in terms of standard experimental apparatus), and a common understanding of measurement. Statements and arguments depending on empirical evidence are often referred to as a posteriori ("following experience") as distinguished from a priori (preceding it). A priori knowledge or justification is independent of experience (for example "All bachelors are unmarried"), whereas a posteriori knowledge or justification is dependent on experience or empirical evidence (for example "Some bachelors are very happy"). The notion that the distinction between a posteriori and a priori is tantamount to the distinction between empirical and non-empirical knowledge comes from Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.[3] The standard positivist view of empirically acquired information has been that observation, experience, and experiment serve as neutral arbiters between competing theories. However, since the 1960s, a persistent critique most associated with Thomas Kuhn,[4][page needed] has argued that these methods are influenced by prior beliefs and experiences. Consequently, it cannot be expected that two scientists when observing, experiencing, or experimenting on the same event will make the same theory-neutral observations. The role of observation as a theory-neutral arbiter may not be possible. Theory-dependence of observation means that, even if there were agreed methods of inference and interpretation, scientists may still disagree on the nature of empirical data.[5] See also[edit] Anecdotal evidence Empirical distribution function Empirical formula Empirical measure Empirical relationship Empirical research Experiential knowledge Ground truth Phenomenology (philosophy) Scientific evidence Scientific method Theory Footnotes[edit] ^ Pickett 2006, p. 585 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFPickett2006 (help) ^ a b Feldman 2001, p. 293 ^ Craig 2005, p. 1 ^ Kuhn 1970 ^ Bird 2013 References[edit] Bird, Alexander (2013). "Thomas Kuhn". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Section 4.2 Perception, Observational Incommensurability, and World-Change. Retrieved 25 January 2012. Craig, Edward (2005). "a posteriori". The Shorter Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. ISBN 9780415324953. Feldman, Richard (2001) [1999]. "Evidence". In Audi, Robert (ed.). The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. pp. 293–294. ISBN 978-0521637220. Kuhn, Thomas S. (1970) [1962]. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226458045. Pickett, Joseph P., ed. (2011). "Empirical". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-547-04101-8. External links[edit] The dictionary definition of empirical at Wiktionary The dictionary definition of evidence at Wiktionary "A Priori and A Posteriori". Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. v t e Philosophy of science Concepts Analysis Analytic–synthetic distinction A priori and a posteriori Causality Commensurability Consilience Construct Creative synthesis Demarcation problem Empirical evidence Explanatory power Fact Falsifiability Feminist method Functional contextualism Ignoramus et ignorabimus Inductive reasoning Intertheoretic reduction Inquiry Nature Objectivity Observation Paradigm Problem of induction Scientific law Scientific method Scientific revolution Scientific theory Testability Theory choice Theory-ladenness Underdetermination Unity of science Metatheory of science Coherentism Confirmation holism Constructive empiricism Constructive realism Constructivist epistemology Contextualism Conventionalism Deductive-nomological model Hypothetico-deductive model Inductionism Epistemological anarchism Evolutionism Fallibilism Foundationalism Instrumentalism Pragmatism Model-dependent realism Naturalism Physicalism Positivism / Reductionism / Determinism Rationalism / Empiricism Received view / Semantic view of theories Scientific realism / Anti-realism Scientific essentialism Scientific formalism Scientific skepticism Scientism Structuralism Uniformitarianism Vitalism Philosophy of Physics thermal and statistical Motion Chemistry Biology Geography Social science Technology Engineering Artificial intelligence Computer science Information Mind Psychiatry Psychology Perception Space and time Related topics Alchemy Criticism of science Descriptive science Epistemology Faith and rationality Hard and soft science History and philosophy of science History of science History of evolutionary thought Logic Metaphysics Normative science Pseudoscience Relationship between religion and science Rhetoric of science Science studies Sociology of scientific knowledge Sociology of scientific ignorance Philosophers of science by era Ancient Plato Aristotle Stoicism Epicureans Medieval Averroes Avicenna Roger Bacon William of Ockham Hugh of Saint Victor Dominicus Gundissalinus Robert Kilwardby Early modern Francis Bacon Thomas Hobbes René Descartes Galileo Galilei Pierre Gassendi Isaac Newton David Hume Late modern Immanuel Kant Friedrich Schelling William Whewell Auguste Comte John Stuart Mill Herbert Spencer Wilhelm Wundt Charles Sanders Peirce Wilhelm Windelband Henri Poincaré Pierre Duhem Rudolf Steiner Karl Pearson Contemporary Alfred North Whitehead Bertrand Russell Albert Einstein Otto Neurath C. 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Quine Thomas Kuhn Imre Lakatos Paul Feyerabend Jürgen Habermas Ian Hacking Bas van Fraassen Larry Laudan Daniel Dennett Category  Philosophy portal  Science portal Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Empirical_evidence&oldid=995534606" Categories: Empiricism Evidence Critical thinking Epistemology Epistemology of science History of education History of ideas History of philosophy History of science Justification Observation Philosophy of education Philosophy of science Sampling (statistics) Science experiments Sources of knowledge Hidden categories: Harv and Sfn no-target errors Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles needing additional references from August 2020 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2014 Articles with Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy links Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikiquote Languages العربية Asturianu Čeština Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Bahasa Melayu Português Русский کوردی Svenska ไทย Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 21 December 2020, at 15:51 (UTC). 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