Empirical vs Rational - What's the difference?
empirical | rational |
Pertaining to or based on experience.
* H. Spencer
Pertaining to, derived from, or testable by observations made using the physical senses or using instruments which extend the senses.
(philosophy of science) Verifiable by means of scientific experimentation.
Capable of reasoning.
*
Logically sound; not contradictory or otherwise absurd.
(label) Healthy or balanced intellectually; exhibiting reasonableness.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-21, volume=411, issue=8892, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Of a number, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two integers.
Of an algebraic expression, capable of being expressed as the ratio of two polynomials.
(label) Expressing the type, structure, relations, and reactions of a compound; graphic; said of formulae.
(mathematics) A rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.
A rational being.
As adjectives the difference between empirical and rational
is that empirical is pertaining to or based on experience while rational is capable of reasoning.As a noun rational is
(mathematics) a rational number: a number that can be expressed as the quotient of two integers.empirical
English
Adjective
(-)- The village carpenter lays out his work by empirical rules learnt in his apprenticeship.
Synonyms
* empiricAntonyms
* nonempiricalCoordinate terms
* conceptual * theoretical * anecdotalDerived terms
* empiricallySee also
* anecdotal evidence * trial and errorExternal links
* * *rational
English
Alternative forms
* rationall (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) rationel, rational, from (etyl)Adjective
(en adjective)Magician’s brain, passage=The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy.}}
- ¾ is a rational number, but ?2 is an irrational number.
Antonyms
* (reasonable) absurd, irrational, nonsensical * (capable of reasoning) arational, irrational, non-rational * (number theory) irrationalEtymology 2
From (etyl) rational, from , for which see the first etymology.Noun
(en noun)- The quotient of two rationals''' is again a '''rational .
- (Young)