Conclusion

Abstract Empiricism values the experience from which we learn. Some philosophers equate experience with present perception. Against that it is argued that experience requires memory, living through trials, and being changed by the experience. Some philosophers also consider experience an obvious example of knowing. Describing experience as knowledge is like describing a knife as a cut. Experience is an instrument that can be used more or less artfully. Empiricism is the art of using experience to advance problems of knowledge. The tenable values of empiricism remain those of experimentalism, even radical experimentalism, experiments in experimentation. Experimental values are many, and not limited to scientific routines. However, “truth” is not one of these experimental values, which tend instead toward aesthetic qualities like interesting, beautiful, surprising, or fecund.