Empirification

The reduction of all knowledge claims to empirical evidence, specifically to what can be observed, measured, or experimented upon. Empirification dismisses a priori reasoning, logical deduction, conceptual analysis, and intuitive knowledge as unreliable or meaningless. It is common in radical empiricist and positivist circles. Critics argue that empirification is self‑undermining: the principle itself cannot be empirically proven; it is a philosophical stance. Moreover, much of science itself relies on non‑empirical assumptions (e.g., uniformity of nature). Empirification turns a useful methodology into a dogmatic ontology.

Empirification Example: “The empirifier demanded ‘Show me the data’ for the claim that torture is wrong. He couldn’t see that moral truths are not empirical, and his demand was a category error.”

Empirification by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal June 6, 2026