Empeiria

Empeiria (Greek ἐμπειρία) is a term in ancient Greek philosophy that denotes knowledge or understanding derived from experience, perception, or practice. The word literally means experience and is the etymological root of the modern terms empirical and empiricism, which entered philosophy through Latin and later English.

In classical usage, empeiria covers knowledge gained through the senses, observation, or skilled activity. It is often contrasted with episteme, which denotes certain, universally valid knowledge obtained by demonstration, and with techne or phronesis, which refer to craft-based know-how or practical wisdom. In this framework, empeiria can refer to both everyday experiential knowledge and more general claims warranted by repeated experience, though it is typically not regarded as alternatives to demonstrative proof.

Aristotle discusses empeiria as the beginning stage of knowledge grounded in sense experience, from which inductive reasoning can proceed toward more robust claims. The broader ancient tradition also treats empeiria as a necessary, but provisional, basis for judgment: perception and experience provide evidence, while certainty is sought through rational method and demonstration.

In later Greek thought, especially among the skeptics, empeiria serves as the bedrock of belief: since all beliefs rest on experience, certainty remains elusive, leading some skeptics to suspend judgment. The Stoics, by contrast, attempted to integrate empeiria within a rational framework that allowed assent to reliable impressions under conditions of certainty.

In modern philosophy, empeiria gave rise to the concept of empirical knowledge and underpins empiricism, the view that sensory experience is the primary source of knowledge. The term survives in modern Greek as empeiría and in discussions of evidence, experiment, and justification in epistemology.