experimentalism
Trial-based creative philosophy
Experimentalism is a commitment to experimentation as a method—testing ideas through practice rather than accepting them on authority or theory alone.
The term appears in philosophy, education, and the arts, where it describes approaches that value trial, innovation, and direct experience over established doctrine.
John Dewey's experimentalism shaped progressive education.
An experimentalist treats knowledge as provisional, always subject to revision based on new evidence.
First to explore territory
- breakthroughSudden important advance
- trailblazingBeing the first through
- vanguardForemost position or group
- noveltyQuality of being original
disruptive · revolutionary · groundbreaking · radical · unconventional · progressive · cutting-edge · inventive
Practical problem-solving philosophy
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- John DeweyProgressive pedagogy theorist
- instrumentalismTheories as useful tools
- constructivismActive knowledge-building theory
naturalism · epistemology · skepticism · pluralism · contingency · inquiry · methodology · reflective
Absurdist artistic movement
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- futurismStudy of tomorrow's possibilities
- minimalismAesthetic of reduction
- modernismFavoring contemporary approaches
postmodernism · deconstructivism · installation · performance · happenings · conceptual · neo-expressionism · suprematism
Testable proposed explanation
- empiricalBased on observation, not theory
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
- dataFacts for analysis
analysis · control · variable · quantitative · qualitative · replication · falsifiability · trial
Narrative of unfiltered thought
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- nonlinearNot in sequence
- metafictionLiterature aware of itself
- cut-upHabitual joker or clown
Absence of key signature
- serialismFixed-sequence composition technique
- aleatoryGoverned by chance
- musique concrèteElectroacoustic genre using recordings
- electroacousticInvolving amplified sound production
microtonal · indeterminacy · noise · spectral · polyrhythm
pioneering
First to explore territory
- breakthroughSudden important advance
- trailblazingBeing the first through
- vanguardForemost position or group
novelty · disruptive · revolutionary · groundbreaking · radical · unconventional · progressive · cutting-edge · inventive · originality
pragmatism
Practical problem-solving philosophy
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- John DeweyProgressive pedagogy theorist
- instrumentalismTheories as useful tools
constructivism · naturalism · epistemology · skepticism · pluralism · contingency · inquiry · methodology · reflective
dadaism
Absurdist artistic movement
- surrealismIrrational, dreamlike aesthetic
- futurismStudy of tomorrow's possibilities
- minimalismAesthetic of reduction
modernism · postmodernism · deconstructivism · installation · performance · happenings · conceptual · neo-expressionism · suprematism · constructivism
hypothesis
Testable proposed explanation
- empiricalBased on observation, not theory
- methodologyFormal procedural framework
- laboratoryFacility for scientific investigation
data · analysis · control · variable · quantitative · qualitative · replication · falsifiability · trial · observation
stream-of-consciousness
Narrative of unfiltered thought
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
- nonlinearNot in sequence
- metafictionLiterature aware of itself
cut-up · aleatory · Burroughs · Joyce · Woolf · Beckett · anti-novel
atonality
Absence of key signature
- serialismFixed-sequence composition technique
- aleatoryGoverned by chance
- musique concrèteElectroacoustic genre using recordings
electroacoustic · microtonal · indeterminacy · noise · spectral · polyrhythm
- enlightenmentVoltaire, Rousseau, Locke, Kant, Montesquieu
- modernismPicasso, Matisse, Duchamp, Braque, Kandinsky
- American Philosophypragmatism, William James, John Dewey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, transcendentalism
- genre modifiersneo, post, alt, proto, nu
- nonconformitynonconformity, nonconformism, deviance, deviation, defiance
- open-mindednessopen-mindedness, openness, open mind, broad-mindedness, broadminded
experimentalismconventionalism
Adherence to accepted standards
traditionalism · conservatism · conformism · orthodoxy · classicism
experimentalismtraditionalism
Adherence to inherited customs
classicism · academicism · conservatism · neoclassicism · derivative work
experimentalismdogmatism
Unyielding adherence to doctrine
rationalism · scholasticism · orthodoxy · received wisdom · doctrine