Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
pure experience
References
Britannica AI Icon

pure experience

philosophy
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

"Pure experience" in philosophy refers to experience that is not altered by concepts or associations; it is immediate apprehension. This concept is central to radical empiricism, a theory advanced by William James. Radical empiricism posits that the relations between things are as real as the things themselves and that these relations are directly experienced.12

Philosophers like Edmund Husserl, a key figure in phenomenology, also explored the nature of experience. Husserl emphasized returning "to the things themselves" by describing phenomena as they are actually experienced, free from presuppositions. Richard Avenarius, a founder of empiriocriticism, also based his theory of knowledge on "pure experience," arguing against a distinction between inner and outer experience.34

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
5 Britannica Sources
  1. pure experience
  2. radical empiricism
  3. epistemology - Continental epistemology
  4. phenomenology - Basic concepts
  5. Richard Avenarius

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.