Empiricism

==Background==
{{Main|Empirical method}}

A central concept in [[science]] and the [[scientific method]] is that conclusions must be ''empirically'' based on the evidence of the senses. Both [[natural science|natural]] and [[social science]]s use working [[hypothesis|hypotheses]] that are [[testable]] by [[observation]] and [[experiment]]. The term ''semi-empirical'' is sometimes used to describe theoretical methods that make use of basic [[axiom]]s, established scientific laws, and previous experimental results to engage in reasoned model building and theoretical inquiry.

Philosophical empiricists hold no knowledge to be properly inferred or deduced unless it is derived from one's sense-based experience.<ref>Markie, P. (2004), "Rationalism vs. Empiricism" in Edward D. Zalta (ed.), ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/ Eprint].</ref> In [[epistemology]] (theory of knowledge) empiricism is typically contrasted with [[rationalism]], which holds that knowledge may be derived from [[reason]] independently of the senses, and in the [[philosophy of mind]] it is often contrasted with [[innatism]], which holds that some knowledge and ideas are already present in the mind at birth. However, many Enlightenment rationalists and empiricists still made concessions to each other. For example, the empiricist [[John Locke]] admitted that some knowledge (e.g. knowledge of God's existence) could be arrived at through [[Intuition (knowledge)|intuition]] and reasoning alone. Similarly, [[Robert Boyle]], a prominent advocate of the experimental method, held that we also have innate ideas.<ref>Loeb, Luis E. (1981), ''From Descartes to Hume: Continental Metaphysics and the Development of Modern Philosophy'', Ithaca, Cornell University Press.{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref><ref>Engfer, Hans-Jürgen (1996), ''Empirismus versus Rationalismus? Kritik eines philosophiegeschichtlichen Schemas'', Paderborn: Schöningh.{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref> At the same time, the main continental [[rationalist]]s ([[René Descartes|Descartes]], [[Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza]], and [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Leibniz]]) were also advocates of the empirical "scientific method".<ref>Buckle, Stephen (1999), "British Sceptical Realism. A Fresh Look at the British Tradition", ''European Journal of Philosophy'', 7, pp. 1–2.</ref><ref>Peter Anstey, "[https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/2010/09/esp-is-best/ ESP is best] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231075256/https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/2010/09/esp-is-best/ |date=2013-12-31 }}", ''[https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/ Early Modern Experimental Philosophy]'', 2010.</ref>