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empirical works.
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Q) What is an empirical piece of work and how can it be justified? In answering this question I believe that first off it is necessary to have a definition of what empiricism actually is in the context. The dictionary states that empirical knowledge is gained only through personal experiences through numerous ways and means including trials and experiments. Classical empiricism or empirical theory can only exist if suitable examples or information have been obtained. Empirical works therefore differ from a theoretic approach substantially. The key difference being that empirical works have answers defined without questioning, through experiences and fact. Theories, however, differ because they can be challenged and are not necessarily based on evidence, but ideology. Empirical thought works in a similar way, but its fundamental principle is to gather up the evidence and then develop from that. The basic idea behind empiricism is that knowledge can be derived through careful observation and cataloging of phenomena and extrapolating laws or principles from these observations. Even though empiricism is a Western concept and is loaded with enlightenment baggage, it is, in fact a cross-cultural phenomenon. Its origins in the West lie in their most developed form in the philosophy of Aristotle, who reacted against the abstractions of Plato and other key philosophers by developing a more or less universal system of intellectual enquiry. When investigating a subject, he would next observe as much phenomena related to the inquiry that he could and derive laws from his observations, and then use those laws against the previous authorities. But the area where empiricism most rapidly developed in Ancient Greece was in the field of medicine, which based most of its knowledge on empirical observation of the causes and courses of diseases. It is from these sources ultimately that brings rise to enlightenment empiricism. To make this possible several things need to occur. When renaissance humanism focussed more attention on individual human beings and their experience, as evidence by the statement of Leonardo da Vinci in his treatise on painting that ‘experience’ is the parent of all knowledge, then the capacity of experience to give knowledge began to be explored in greater detail.
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