1. (n.) The method or practice of an empiric; pursuit of knowledge by observation and experiment.
2. (n.) Specifically, a practice of medicine founded on mere experience, without the aid of science or a knowledge of principles; ignorant and unscientific practice; charlatanry; quackery.
3. (n.) The philosophical theory which attributes the origin of all our knowledge to experience.
Thesaurus Entries
Christian ethics, Marxism, R and D, Stoicism, altruistic ethics, animalism, aretaics, atomism, behaviorism, casuistry, categorical imperative, commonsense realism, comparative ethics, control, control experiment, controlled experiment, cut and try, deontology, dialectical materialism, earthliness, egoistic ethics, epiphenomenalism, ethical formalism, ethical philosophy, ethology, ethonomics, eudaemonics, evolutionism, experiment, experimental design, experimental method, experimental proof, experimentalism, experimentation, golden rule, hedonism, historical materialism, hit and miss, hylomorphism, hylotheism, hylozoism, intuitionism, materialism, mechanism, moral philosophy, natural realism, naturalism, new realism, noble experiment, perfectionism, physicalism, physicism, positive philosophy, positivism, pragmaticism, pragmatism, realism, representative realism, research and development, rule of thumb, secularism, situation ethics, substantialism, temporality, tentative method, tentativeness, testing, trial, trial and error, trying, utilitarianism, worldliness
