Empirical knowledge: what it is, characteristics, types and examples.

Let's see how empirical knowledge is a way of obtaining basic information in our way of life.

Empirical knowledge is closely related to scientific knowledge in that both seek to know what reality is like. However, the first takes special importance to the sensation and perception of living beings, objects and phenomena by means of the senses.

This type of knowledge is factual, but not as objective as scientific knowledge, although it is more based on material objects than philosophical and religious knowledge.

In the following we are going to talk more in depth about what empirical knowledge ishow it is obtained, what types there are, what are its characteristics and main differences with scientific knowledge, as well as some examples from everyday life.

What is empirical knowledge?

Empirical knowledge is knowledge obtained through direct experience or perception of the real world either by experimentation or observation of a phenomenon, without resorting to abstractions or imagination.. This type of knowledge is formed on the basis of our personal experience by capturing the characteristics of living beings, objects and phenomena of the world through our senses. Thus, we can capture the colors, shapes, smells, textures, sounds and others of what makes up reality.

Materialistic approaches to reality, which are those that seek to understand what there is from what there is, are made by means of empirical knowledge and perception. Despite the fact that this makes empirical knowledge something subjective and is also called non-scientific knowledge, It has also been this type of knowledge that has served as the foundation for the emergence of modern science and scientific thought and method. and scientific thought and method. The empirical is radically opposed to the concept of religious and philosophical knowledge, which is more abstract, imaginative and metaphysical in character.

Types of empirical knowledge

We can speak of two types of empirical knowledge. They are the following.

Particular

Particular empirical knowledge is that which refers to specific cases of reality, knowledge of which it is not possible to guarantee that it can be applied to all cases in general. in general.

For example, the phrase "birds fly" would be a case of particular empirical knowledge since it is not possible to generalize and say that all birds fly. They may be some, they may be most, but they are not all.

2. Contingent

It is that type of knowledge in which it is attributed some specific characteristics to an object but it could be the case that in the future it lacks them, either because that object changes or because it has different characteristics depending on the context and situation in which it is found.This is either because the object changes or because it has different characteristics depending on the context and situation in which it is found.

Taking the same example as above, it is conceivable that, although all the birds we have seen in our lives fly, it may not be so in the future (e.g., they will lose their feathers and will no longer be able to fly) or, depending on the situation, they may be unable to do so.

Features

The main characteristics of empirical knowledge are the following six:

1. Based on experience 2.

Empirical knowledge is obtained by means of experience, interacting with the phenomenon we want to grasp and learn about it..

For example, to know what a rose looks like, it is necessary to see one, smell it, touch its stem and discover that it prickles.

2. Limited to sensory perception

Empirical knowledge can only be acquired by means of the senses. In the case of not having all the senses (hearing, taste, sight, touch and smell) or having some of them altered, this implies a limitation of experience and, consequently, limits the acquisition of knowledge.

For example, a blind person cannot have empirical knowledge of colors. He may have learned at school that the sky is blue or that Blood is red, but he has never seen those colors and cannot get an idea of what they are like.

3. Subjective

Empirical knowledge is subjective. To acquire it, each person makes use of his own senses, which may be altered or altered.which may be altered or capture information in different ways. Experiences depend on what and how the person perceives them, which makes the experience itself non-objective.

For example, if two people walk into an operating room they will notice that the walls are a shade between blue and green. One may say that the color is blue-green, while the other considers it to be more like blue-green. They see the same thing, but their interpretation of it is different.

4. Asystematic and unverifiable

Empirical knowledge is neither verifiable nor measurable, only the factual supports it.. It does not require either steps to follow or a precise method to obtain this knowledge, since the world is captured as it is without anything more than our senses.

For example, if we caress our pet's fur, it may be a very pleasant sensation. This pleasure is not objectively quantifiable, there is no unit of measurement of how pleasurable something is, nor can another person verify whether or not we find it pleasurable to pet our pet.

5. Particular

Empirical knowledge cannot be applied to all phenomena nor can it be generalized and said to be the opinion or reality of everyone, in other words, it is a particular knowledge.

Each person incorporates and assimilates this knowledge in his or her own way.Each person incorporates and assimilates this knowledge in his own way, from his own way of interpreting the world based on his own beliefs and previous experiences, which turns empirical knowledge into something imprecise.

For example, if someone considers Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to be an ugly and grotesque painting, that is his opinion based on his experience, while others may think it is pleasing to the eye and very beautiful. Be that as it may, it is not possible to apply a general conclusion that everyone thinks that the painting of "El Grito" is ugly.

6. It is practical

Empirical knowledge has applications in everyday lifeIt allows us to understand daily phenomena according to what we perceive with our senses. However, it does not serve to elaborate theories or generalizations.

Some examples of empirical knowledge

Let us look at some examples of empirical knowledge specific to everyday life.

• Understanding that fire burns because, if we get close to it, we feel extreme heat.
• Learning to ride a bike by riding one and trying it out.
• Knowing that the sun can make us blind because it hurts our eyes when we stare at it.
• Taste chocolate and discover that it tastes sweet and bitter.
• Learning the traditional dances of a culture by watching it.
• Associating that a gray sky can mean rain.
• Learning a new language through practice.
• To know the appropriate place and time to fish in a lake.
• To associate that the arrival of summer means heat and lots of sun.
• To look in the mirror and understand that the person in the mirror is our reflection.

What are the differences between empirical and scientific knowledge?

As we have already mentioned, empirical knowledge has been very important for the emergence of the modern concept of science. This type of knowledge, together with the doctrine of empiricism, was key to the emergence of the scientific method. Both are two ways of understanding reality, but each has its own methods and systems for generating new knowledge.. They are not comparable and, in fact, the former is also known as non-scientific knowledge.

As we said, empirical knowledge is based on personal experience and the perception of the information that one captures through one's senses, with which one can establish one's own conclusions about reality. That is to say, empirical knowledge is subjective. In contrast, scientific knowledge is based on evidence and the application of standardized methods to verify the data available and generate knowledge that is as objective and as close to reality as possible.

Scientific knowledge is based on concrete hypotheses, whether or not linked to the empirical.. These hypotheses aim to become an explanation of the real world, something that empirical knowledge does not offer. Moreover, scientific knowledge must be proven by a specific method with demonstrations and tests (scientific method), that is, it is systematic, a characteristic contrary to empirical knowledge in which experience is grasped without any process beyond sensation and perception.

For example, it is a verifiable fact that birds fly, an empirical knowledge. We know this simply by observing birds doing just that, flying. However, knowing how they do it, why there are species of birds that cannot fly, and at what point in evolutionary history the ancestors of modern birds went from being unable to fly to being able to fly are questions that cannot be answered by simple experience, but rather require abstract knowledge. require specialized abstract knowledge, i.e., scientific knowledge., i.e., scientific.

Bibliographical references:

• Pickett, J.P., ed. (2011). Empirical. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 5th ed. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-547-04101-8
• Feldman, R. (1999) Evidence, en Robert Audi, The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, p. 293–294
• Dingle, H. (1941) The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge. Nature 147, 286–290 . https://doi.org/10.1038/147286a0