nLab empiricism

Idea

In the philosophy of science, and particularly the philosophy of physics. empiricism is the philosophical sentiment that knowledge about the observable universe does and, ultimately, can only derive from empirical observation (measurement, experiment), as opposed to from intellectual reflection, such as in exceptional naturalism and/or (absolute) idealism.

A variant of empiricism due to van Fraasen 80 came to be known as constructive empiricism which (according to SEP-CE, here)

holds that science aims at truth about observable aspects of the world, but that science does not aim at truth about unobservable aspects.

A contemporary variant of empriricism appears in discussion of the “multiverse” to the extent that this rejects the existence of a fundamental theory from which reality may be derived, and proclaims the necessity to simply observe fundamental fields and “constants of nature” as what they appear, giving up on theoretical explanation.

Related concepts

• universal exceptionalism

• idealism

• structuralism

References

See also

• Wikipedia, Empiricism

• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Constructive empiricism

Authors articulating the stance of empiricism:

• Max Born, Experiment and theory in physics, Address to the Durham Philosophical Socienty 1943, published by Dover 1956

The idea of constructive empiricism

• Bas van Fraassen, The Scientific Image (1980) (philpapers:VANTSI,
  doi:10.1093/0198244274.001.0001/acprof-9780198244271)

• Stephen Leeds, Constructive Empiricism, Synthese Vol. 101, No. 2 (Nov., 1994), pp. 187-221 (jstor:20117956)

Discussion in view of contemporary issues in particle physics and string theory:

• Richard Dawid, High Energy Physics and Constructive Empiricism (philsci:2243)

• Richard Dawid, Scientific realism in the age of string theory, Physics and Philosophy (2007) (philpapers:DAWSRI)

Further:

• Sabine Hossenfelder, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, Basic Books 2018. German translation: Das hässliche Universum: Warum unsere Suche nach Schönheit die Physik in die Sackgasse führt, Fischer 2018

• Sabine Hossenfelder, Was läuft falsch in der gegenwärtigen Physik?, talk at University of Stuttgart, 2019 (video)