substantive Empiricism

Substantive empiricism is a philosophical stance that acknowledges formal concepts as a priori (known independently of experience). However, it asserts that categorial concepts and theoretical concepts in physics are a posteriori (derived from experience).1

This view suggests that concepts believed to be a priori are either flawed, reducible to empirical concepts, or simply useful fictions for organizing experience. Substantive empiricists consider all propositions that offer substantial information about the world to be a posteriori. Any a priori propositions are seen as verbal or conceptual, deriving their truth from word meanings rather than factual knowledge about the world.1

Essentially, substantive empiricism views a priori propositions as disguised tautologies, while all of science, from its fundamental assumptions to its evidence, is considered a posteriori.1