Introducing Empiricism

we never experience the world directl

observing many instances of the same phenomena (all sorts of bees make honey), we are able to draw probable conclusions (all bees make honey) and make predictions (these bees will make honey next year), and even emerge with explanatory theories for why things behave as they do (bees make honey in order to survive the winter months).

drawing conclusions from the evidence

Medieval “scientists” spent too long in libraries, arguing about definitions. Real science meant investigating the world outside.

Rationalist philosophers maintain that reason is the most reliable source of knowledge. “Knowledge comes from thinking, not looking.”

what we see tells us very little about what is real.