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This is also used very greatly in Philosophy

EMPIRICAL- is the belief that the Physical world (the one you can touch) is the Real world.

They also believe:

  • The world is Imperfect and is Dynamic
  • The world is Disorderly
  • They base existence off the ability to use your 5 senses
  • They are subjective in their viewpoints
  • Life is full of uncertainty (as it is Dynamic and always changing)
  • Some Empirical philosophers: Heraclitus, Aristotle and David Hume

SPECULATIVE: is also referred to as Rationalism (and is how I will refer to it here). Rationalism is the belief that the non-physical world (that which you cannot touch) is the Real world.

They also believe:

  • The world is perfect, ideal and absolute (static; never changing)
  • The world is orderly
  • They base existence off the ability to Reason
  • They are objective in their viewpoints
  • Life is full of certainty (it is static and thus, always the same)
  • Some Rationalism philosophers: Zeno, Plato

A popular question Rationalists have that you may come across in the future is "Did God create man; or did man create God?" Think about it!

Anyway, both are what are considered to be the World Views. They are both examples of Ontology and Epistemology. A good way to remember the difference between the two is this:

Empirical says: Life and Reality was here before man

Rationalism says: man creates reality

Please use the term "man" loosely as it does refer to as human.

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Empirical theories are based on observed data and evidence, making testable predictions and drawing conclusions from experimental results. Speculative theories, on the other hand, are based on conjecture or assumptions, lacking empirical evidence to support their claims. Empirical theories are considered to be more reliable and scientifically rigorous compared to speculative theories.

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