• Empiricism

    Notes: George Bealer’s “The Incoherence of Empiricism”

    According to George Bealer, empiricism is committed to three principles. First, an empiricist is committed to “the principle of empiricism” namely that “a person’s experiences and/or observations comprise the person’s prima facie evidence.” Second, “the principle of holism” according to which “a theory is justified…for a person if and only if it is, or belongs to, the simplest comprehensive theory that explains all, or most, of the person’s prima facie evidence” Finally, according to Bealer, the empiricist is committed to “the principle of naturalism” according to which, “the natural sciences…constitute the simplest comprehensive theory that explains all, or most, of a person’s experiences and/or observations.” Bealer argues that such a view is incoherent.…