Empirical thinking: essence, concept, stages and types

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

There are a lot of options for how a person's thinking can be organized. Some people have a rational mindset, while others perceive information through the prism of feelings and emotions. Someone thinks abstractly, but for someone it is important to take into account all the real little things and details. Minds are individual, and this is probably what has attracted scientists since time immemorial.

What is empiricism? Definition

This name comes from the ancient Greek word εΜπειρία, which is translated into Russian as "experience".

Empiricism is one of the directions within the theory of knowledge. It is based on the belief that knowledge comes from experience. Accordingly, the presentation or transmission of the content of acquired knowledge is nothing more than a description of the experience gained.

The essence of the concept

Empirical thinking in philosophyopposed to the mystical and the rational. However, it is not so much an antagonism as it is between these ways of knowing, combining some of the elements inherent in them.

This type of cognition is characterized by:

• reliance on feelings;
• raising experience to absolute value;
• belittling or ignoring rational methods - theories, analytical chains, invented concepts;
• intuitive awareness or "feeling".

Empirical thinking does not completely deny the existence of theories and reflections, but understands them differently than it is characteristic of rational methods of cognition. The only true source of knowledge, as well as their criterion for this method of thought process, is experience. Only the natural course of things, which can be felt, observed, forms the basis of this variant of the organization of thinking. At the same time, the concept is characterized by both influx and inner experiences. These manifestations are included in the empirical characteristics of thinking, as well as contemplation, observation, experience.

Relationship between empiricism and theoretical type of thinking

Although empiricism and rationalism are often opposed, these types of thinking alone are narrow, not allowing to approach the subject from all possible points of view, sides. In other words, if, when studying something, one thinks exclusively empirically or, conversely, rationally, then a part of the subject under investigation will fall out of the field of attention and, accordingly, will not be known.

Empirical and theoretical thinking act as two "pillars" of knowledge. In this case, one logically complements the other. In addition, the theoretical method of cognition may not be an addition, but a continuation of the irrational. Empirical theoretical methods of thinking combine both approaches to the organization of knowledge. After receiving basic ideas from experience, observation or another type of direct experience, a person proceeds to comprehend and build theoretical formulas in relation to the object or phenomenon being studied.

What is the difference between rationality and empiricism?

Theoretical and empirical thinking differ in their approach to obtaining knowledge. Reality, perceived empirically, is considered from the angle of its external manifestations. This type of thinking fixes obvious processes and phenomena, events and other things of interest for study.

In simple words, the empirical method of thinking is the awareness of everything that is possible to touch, sniff, consider, hear or feel in any other way. The theoretical way of knowing is fundamentally different. Based on the received idea, the human mind builds chains of thoughts, while systematizing and classifying both existing and newly incoming material. Thus, rational thinking is tuned to identify patterns of general and particular order, allowing to carry out a scientific forecast in a particular field of activity.

Thinking forms of this type

As with any type of organized mental activity, empiricism has its constituent structural elements.

Experiential thinking comes in two major forms:

• immanent;
• transcendent.

Each of these types of empiricism has its own characteristics that define their essence.

Immanent form

Immanent thinking is characterized by the desire to explain rational activity and its inherent processes by a combination of ideas and sensations. In the history of philosophy, following this type of thinking led to the development of skepticism, an example is the work of a writer named Michel Montaigne, who developed the ideas of famous ancient scientists - Pyrrho and Protagoras.

With this type of thinking, the entire store of knowledge and the material being studied are limited to the framework of mental sensations - emotions, ideas, feelings. Cognitive activity is considered as a product of associations and a chain of individual psycho-emotional elements. Of course, this form of thinking does not deny the existence of reality or being outside of consciousness, but considers it as a source of the possibility of obtaining sensations and experience.

Transcendent form

This kind of empiricism is understood as materialism. In other words, reality is viewed as a set of moving material elements, particles that enter into mutual connections and form various combinations.

The content of thoughts and patterns of cognition are understood as a product of the process of interactionmind with the environment. Thus, the formation of experience that forms the basis of knowledge takes place.

Stages and provisions of empiricism

The stages of empirical thinking or its main provisions are connected with attempts to explain the structure of epistemological, mathematical laws inherent in the human mind, which are universal and unconditional.

The list of stages and provisions characteristic of this type of thinking includes the following:

• necessity and universality;
• repeating impressions;
• associativity and predisposition;
• experience representation.

The universality and the need for connecting mental elements in the acquisition of experience is a consequence of the repeated and monotonous receipt of certain impressions, sensations.

The conscious repetition of already known impressions leads to their consolidation, the formation of a habit for them and the establishment of associations. Thus, an inextricable internal connection arises between specific ideas about something. This, in turn, leads to the complete impossibility of considering or understanding any objects separately. In the perception of the human mind, the considered objects, objects, processes or phenomena become a single whole.

As an example of the result of this stage of empiricism, we can cite the traditional perception of married couples by society. That is, if one of the spouses is invited to any celebration, a priori, a visit is also implied.activities of his half. Husband and wife are not perceived under such circumstances as two independent and completely different people. Society accepts them as a whole. Young mothers are another example. Surely everyone has heard such phrases: "We have a deuce", "We signed up for a circle." However, a deuce is only for a child and a baby is recorded in a circle, without a mother. In other words, the mother does not separate the child from herself, she does not consider him an independent person. In the mind of such a woman, the child is nothing but a part of herself.

Attempts to "break" stable links between representations are rather complicated and not always feasible. Inextricable associations are formed in the presence of a predisposition to them. That is, they are a direct consequence of life experience. They are able to form for many centuries and cover the experience gained by more than one generation of people. But they can also occur in a separate individual and form very quickly.

Empirical thinking is based on experience. It can be both the life experience of a particular individual, and the whole society. Thus, this type of thinking is characteristic of both collective and individual consciousness.