Experience, Experiments, and the History of Empiricism



• Experience, Experiments, and the History of Empiricism

  Item Type	Journal Article
  Author	Barry Allen
  Abstract	This paper discusses arguments from my recent book, Empiricisms: Experience and Experiment from Antiquity to the Anthropocene (2021). I discuss the origin of empiricism in ancient Greek medicine, and its merger with experimental research in the modern period. I also discuss the arguments of recent critics of empiricism, including W. V. Quine, Donald Davidson, and Richard Rorty. I introduce a distinction between theorematic and problematic empiricism and show how this difference divides the various empiricisms of history. My conclusions are: 1. Knowledge requires experience; results have to be tested, which takes experience. 2. The “experience” of empirical philosophy is the experience from which we learn. 3. Experimental values are many, but truth is not one of them. 4. Empiricism began as an antidote to rationalism, and that remains its vocation today.
  Date	2024
  Language	English
  Rights	© 2024 Aletheia - Associação Científica e Cultural
  Volume	80
  Pages	805-812
  Publication	Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia
  DOI	10.17990/RPF/2024_80_3_0805
  Issue	3
  ISSN	0870-5283 ; 2183-461X
  Date Added	10/30/2024, 8:52:08 PM
  Modified	10/30/2024, 9:02:39 PM

  Tags:

  • ancient medicine, empiricism, experiment, knowledge, metaphysics, perception, rationalism.

  Notes:

  • Allen, Barry. Empiricisms: Experience and Experiment from Antiquity to the Anthropocene. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.

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