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.

---

Other Word Forms

• radical empiricist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of radical empiricism

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

radical empiricism

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

My philosophy is what I call a radical empiricism, a pluralism, a "tychism," which represents order as being gradually won and always in the making.

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

Had he seen the developments of his radical empiricism, I cannot help thinking he would have marvelled that such logical mechanisms should have been hatched out of that egg.

From Character and Opinion in the United States by George Santayana

I believe that radical empiricism, on the contrary, holding to the each-form, and making of God only one of the caches, affords the higher degree of intimacy.

From A Pluralistic Universe Hibbert Lectures at Manchester College on the Present Situation in Philosophy by William James