empirikos

Empirikos, from the Greek ἐμπειρικός (empeirikos), means “empirical” or “based on experience.” In historical contexts it describes a person or approach that relies on experience and observation rather than theoretical speculation about hidden causes. The term is closely associated with the Empirics, a school of medicine in ancient Greece and Rome known as the Empiricists (Empirikoi).

The Empiric school emerged in the Hellenistic period and held that knowledge of disease derives from examination of past cases and practical experience. They prioritized what could be observed and learned from patient responses to treatment, rather than positing etiologies or underlying mechanisms. Diagnosis was grounded in signs, symptoms, and patient history, while prognosis was guided by prior outcomes of similar cases. Therapeutic methods emphasized readily available, generally effective remedies and simple, repeatable regimens, with less emphasis on theoretical causes or on detailed anatomical understanding. The Empirics often favored a cautious, case-based approach to therapy.

The movement stood in opposition to more theory-driven, dogmatic medical traditions, such as those associated with the Hippocratic school, and it later differed from other contemporary schools by its emphasis on experience as the primary basis for medical knowledge. Philinus of Cos is commonly cited as a founder or early leader of the Empiric school, though the tradition continued with various practitioners into late antiquity.

In modern usage, empirikos retains its sense as “empirical,” describing methods grounded in observation and experience rather than speculation.