radical empiricism

American  

noun

1. (in the philosophy of William James) the doctrine that the only proper subject matter of philosophy is that which can be defined in terms of experience, and that relations are a part of experience.

2. sensationalism.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• radical empiricist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of radical empiricism

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

And the best way to get at Absolute Truth is simply to drop all thought and pay close attention to immediate perception, aka Zen meditation, aka radical empiricism.

From New York Times • Feb. 24, 2018

A rat-a-tat of surprising results over the past few years has supported this radical empiricism and done a lot to challenge traditional dualist philosophy.

From Slate • Nov. 24, 2014

Here is another contribution to my radical empiricism, which I send hot on the heels of the last one.

From The Letters of William James, Vol. II by James, William

In any case, we are led to this curious result: that radical empiricism ought to deny that any idea of the past can be true at all.

From Character and Opinion in the United States by Santayana, George

All the theses of radical empiricism, in short, follow.

From Essays in Radical Empiricism by James, William