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Fri 3 May, 2013 04:52 pm
The word empirics seem to mean "empirical facts," which, however, cannot be found directly in any English dictionaries, for the word empiric is defined like this:
Definition of EMPIRIC
1: charlatan 2
2: one who relies on practical experience
adj.
1. relying on medical quackery
2. derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
Context:
Science can work only with naturalistic explanations; it can neither affirm nor deny other types of actors (like God) in other spheres (the moral realm, for example). Forget philosophy for a moment; the simple empirics of the past hundred years should suffice. Darwin himself was agnostic (aving lost his religious beliefs upon the tragic loss of his favorite daughter).
@oristarA,
This is the correct definition for empiric in the sentence:
Quote:2. derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
I found it in my dictionary.
You won't find EVERY word in the dictionary.
Besides, you figured it out, didn't you?
@engineer,
engineer wrote:
This is the correct definition for empiric in the sentence:
Quote:2. derived from experiment and observation rather than theory
No. Yours is an adjective, while in the context ("the simple empirics") the word empiric has been used as a noun.
@oristarA,
The author decided he could use an adjective as a noun. No big deal.
@engineer,
engineer wrote:
The author decided he could use an adjective as a noun. No big deal.
Well, he's indeed somebody (the leader of the global genome project). I wonder, however, whether we nobody can use some obvious adjective as a noun in our writing.
@oristarA,
Fine with me, it's how language moves.
"I wonder, however, whether we nobody can use some obvious adjective as a noun in our writing. "
Someone can sit on a chair and chair a meeting or be a co-chair of a committee in a chaired meeting.
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