. Any of a variety of views to the effect that either our concepts or our knowledge are, wholly or partly, based on experience through the senses and introspection. The ‘basing’ may refer to psychological origin or, more usually,...

Empiricism The theory that all knowledge is acquired through experience. Empiricism is the theory proposed by philosophers and psychologists that all knowledge and behavior are acquired through experience, and are not at all attributable to inborn or...

In psychology an approach based on English positivism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume), which views experience as the foundation of all understanding. This contrasts with nativism, which sees innate ideas as the basis for all cognitive development. As a...

The theory that all knowledge of facts is based upon...

In philosophy generally, empiricism is a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, especially sensory perception, in the formation of ideas, while discounting the notion of innate ideas. In the philosophy of science, empiricism is a theory...

In the hurly-burly decades after the Civil War, uptown and downtown, on and off the Bowery and all over Five Points, the New York underworld boasted a roster of real-life shady characters—crooked barkeeps, cops on the take, sundry fences, countless thieves and gangs galore—who could...

In the hurly-burly decades after the Civil War, uptown and downtown, on and off the Bowery and all over Five Points, the New York underworld boasted a roster of real-life shady characters—crooked barkeeps, cops on the take, sundry fences, countless thieves and gangs galore—who could...

It seems that now, on New Year’s Eve, everything shifts east. New Jersey stumbles into Manhattan; Manhattan’s riffraff ends up in Brooklyn. (The Transom isn’t sure yet where Brooklyn goes. Hauppauge? Copiague? Nor does it really care.) But where do the real New Yorkers end...

It seems that now, on New Year’s Eve, everything shifts east. New Jersey stumbles into Manhattan; Manhattan’s riffraff ends up in Brooklyn. (The Transom isn’t sure yet where Brooklyn goes. Hauppauge? Copiague? Nor does it really care.)But where do the real New Yorkers end up?...