Introducing Empiricism

by Dave Robinson, Bill Mayblin, Richard Appignanesi (Editor)

Our knowledge comes primarily from experience. But is experience really what it seems? Is it reliable? Empiricist philosophers accept a commonsense view of fact and yet conclude that all we can ever know are ideas. Physical reality may not exist at all!

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Graphic Novels

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 8, 2000

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Sanjay]

Decent introduction to empiricism if you are a beginner.

[Kyaw Zayar Lwin]

Ended up doubting the existence of physical objects.

[Sebastien]

Although this book is « introductory », it is not to be read lightly. The graphic illustrations can help, but the concepts and ideas discussed within are fairly represented, and can be hard to understand if this is your first dive into philosophy, or empiricism.

There’s no escaping the complexity of the epistemology of empiricism if you want it to be properly explained, and I consider this book to have succeeded in that regard. So, even if this graphic guide is introductory, be prepared to set aside some time to absorb certain concepts, and you’ll be far better off for it.

[Mohammad Reza]

کتاب فوق العاده ای بود، از این لحاظ که ساعت ها من مشغول فکر کردن به موضوعات مطرح شده داخل کتاب بودم.
ولی بعضی اشتباهات چاپی و املایی کمی توی ذوق میزد متاسفانه.

[Wilde Sky]

This book provides a brief overview of different theories on perception (or least I think it does).

I found this book interesting in places but most of it just confused me.

[Mark Plaid]

Brilliant Clarity and Context

This book explains empiricism with clarity enhanced by historical context. It shows how each philosopher featured in this book builds their own concepts on the shoulders of thinkers before them. It also shows how empiricism wasn't just navel gazing but largely a way for science to gather evidence more precisely. This book helped connect dots for me that I couldn't when I was in graduate school.

[Vikas Datta]

Phenomenal... a field of thought that shows man at his most versatile in trying to make sense of the world he is willy-nilly a part of

[Rolf]

In reading this, I discovered I...don't really care for empiricism.

[Andrew Noselli]

If the purpose of art is to stop time, to subvert the process of thinking in time, and to prepare the way for the appearance of the Messiah, the second coming of Christ is an instance of highly-entropic relativity legitimized by an observer situated in nature united in the One Infinite Mind of God which is consciousness ! This book took me to a higher plane of consciousness as it directly mentions David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature, a book written in 1740 and the exact book I am scheduled to read next. It appears that books like this were made to deaden once and for all any possibilities of metaphysical reasoning for British and American teenagers and to ready the way for quantifiable non-observer-oriented physical science, so let's read this book, board the ramparts and prepare to storm the bastille of anti-philosophical thinking !

However, induction is not quantifiable and is irreducible to a set of logical properties or, should we say, following J.S. Mill, that all deductive knowledge, including that of mathematics and logic, is really inductive and that, in light of the fact that Bertrand Russell and A.N. Whitehead's Principia Mathematica did not succeed in demonstrative that mathematics was reducible to logic (or maybe Frege proved it true, a deficit in my knowledge), that such a type of thinking inevitably leads to the denunciation of philosophy as a realm where hidden truths can be obtained; this debunks not only the pleasure of reading and thinking but relegates the status of the philosopher as a person who engages in logical analysis "to no purpose" -- and why not, if all the books have been written ?

This book leaves me firmly convinced that, in regard to any other purpose to which language may be put, it remains "the wet-dream" of a schizophrenic to construct a purely private set of experiences or a language unique to one individual - sorry Jeremy !

[Imroze Aslam]

It was a mind boggling yet fascinating book. It was a good pick for me as a Data Scientist, with some interest in philosophy concepts related to my field and interests. While discussing empiricism and counter ideas, it covered a lot of those areas including perception, senses, knowledge, truth, logic, uncertainty, meaning, language, vision, experiences, mathematics and inference etc. It made me realize how abstract, even the simplest things could get. There were many weird concepts but also valuable ideas to remember and ponder on. I liked the graphical and comical style. It was my first book from the introducing series, and I liked the format and would like to get some others.

[Einzige]

Its more of an introduction to the history of empiricism than empiricism itself. Still its a nice fun little book which will help show the complexity of epistemology and the folly of trying to rely on empiricism as the be all and end all of knowledge despite it appearing as a quick and easy solution. Also oddly enough despite not having a section dedicated to him Kant came off as the real hero of the book.

[Henri]

David Hume的主要論點：道德語言不是事實性的；
擁有印象並作為其所有者的器官，沒有產生一個關於自身的印象；
如果所有事件都是由原因“決定”的，那麼我們的選擇與決定也是，這意味著我們沒有誰真的是“自由的”；
我們不是檢視世界然後“習慣於”它，而是向其投射概念，也許是我們使這個世界帶有人的痕跡，而不是世界塑造了我們的思考方式；
Johm Mill堅稱，我們意識到的一切都是現象或表象，不是本體或事實；
因果關係毫無邏輯性或必然性，我們關於它的知識是基於經驗和歸納的；
傳統道德是道德判斷和道德行為的良好指南，但它不是強制性的；
“上帝創造了世界”是不可檢驗的，因此毫無意義。” -- 艾耶爾
語言的“巫術”製造出各種各樣複雜的哲學“問題”，邏輯分析則表明它們都是徒勞；
哲學家的存在只是為了從事邏輯分析；
我們所有的經驗都是內在的精神現象。

[Leon Adeyemi]

excellent book. although not very easy to find now a days. its a brilliant introduction. i wish i could find more with this series but the books are relatively scarce now. especially the older style books like these ones

[Peter Lambert]

Excellent introduction. As most Graphic guide books.

[Andrew Corsini]

Does what it says on the tin.

[Orrin]

Educational and whimsical

Excelsior!

[Brian Beatty]

A good overview of a field that is mostly frustrating until you get to Hume, Ayer and Russel. Still, a good summary even though I'd prefer more epistemological concepts tied in.

[Bahman Bahman]

تجربه‌گرایی یکی از گرایش‌های اصلی در شناخت‌شناسی و نقطهٔ مقابل عقل‌گرایی است. بر اساس این دیدگاه همهٔ معرفتهای بشری مستقیم یا غیرمستقیم برآمده از تجربه است. تجربه از منظر این دیدگاه نه فقط ادراک حسی بلکه دریافتهایی مانند حافظه یا گواهی دیگران را هم در بر می‌گیرد.

برمبنای نظریهٔ مبناگرایی همهٔ باورهای ما با واسطهٔ استدلال نهایتاً از منبعی به دست آمده‌اند که آن منبع نیاز به توجیه یا استدلال ندارد. تجربه‌گرایی - که یکی از زیرمجموعه‌های مبناگرایی است - تنها تجربه را به عنوان چنین منبعی بی‌نیاز از توجیه می‌دانند. تقلیل گرایی یکی از ویژگیهای عمده برنامه تجربه گرایی است که توسط جان لاک مطرح شد و بارکلی و هیوم آن را تدقیق کردند و اثبات گرایان آن را آخرین میخی می‌دانستند که بر تابوت بحث های دینی و اخلاقی و متافیزیکی کوفته شده بود تجربه‌گرایی با استفاده از حسیات در مقابل عقل‌گرایی می‌باشد. تجربیات عقلی از علم حصولی است و روش اثبات غیر حسی دارد. طبق نظر دکارت اگر همهٔ حواس چندگانهٔ ما از کار بیافتند ولی مغز هنوز بتواند فکر کند حتماً ما وجود داریم پس تجربهٔ این دیدگاه بعد از رنسانس به صورت جدی طرح شد. بارکلی، جان لاک و دیوید هیوم از فیلسوفان تجربه‌گرا هستند.

[Thieluar]

If you want to retain your sanity, do not read this book. But if you already lost it, this book will improve your insanely driven mind. This book explores reality from philosopher's skepticism about it through the centuries.

[Eric]

Ah. Comic Books.