nonempirical

Beyond direct experience

Nonempirical describes knowledge or methods not based on observation or experiment.

Philosophy, mathematics, and logic are nonempirical disciplines—their truths derive from reasoning rather than sensory evidence.

The existence of God is a nonempirical question.

Contrast with empirical, which requires testing against observable facts.

philosophical

metaphysics

Philosophy of existence's nature

rationalism · idealism · phenomenology · transcendental · Kant · Plato · Descartes · Leibniz · pure reason · first principles

speculative

conjecture

Guess from limited facts

postulation · surmise · armchair · thought experiment · imagination · ideation · hypothesis · untested · unfalsifiable · unverified

theoretical

axiomatic

Accepted without question

logical · mathematical · formal · syllogistic · theorems · proofs · modeling · inference · abstraction · derivation

spiritual

faith

Trust without proof

divine · theological · religious · supernatural · metaphysical · numinous · sacred · esoteric · gnostic · visionary

intuitive

instinctive

Arising without conscious thought

introspection · self-evident · intuition · tacit · implicit · felt sense · nonrational

Opposites
epistemological method

nonempiricalempirical

Based on observation, not theory

experiential · observational · experimental · evidence-based · data-driven

scientific methodology

nonempiricalempirical

Based on observation, not theory

experimental · observational · scientific · objective · testable

Family

empirical, empiricism, empirically, empiricist, empiricists, unempirical

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