Grice: Empiricism as a Bete Noire

Life led Grice to be "the rationalist of our time". At a time when empiricists were all the rage, he wanted to be _different_. Yet I feel he should have enjoyed some days to go back to his early Grecian days when 'peira' meant the 'tribunal', only:

Cheers,

JL

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1541 R. COPLAND Galyen's Terap. 2 Gij, The whiche thynge the Emperykes
vnderstande by onely experyence.

which I'd say is pretty early as English goes. But I'm sure the
Anglo-Saxons had a way to say 'trial', too.

Then there's

1605 BACON Adv. Learn. I. 8 It is accounted an errour, to commit a naturall
bodie to Emperique Phisitions.

which is fun, since everybody know would believe that it is not "suche an
errour" for Hobbes, but he did think it was.

Then there's this:

1657 G. STARKEY Helmont's Vind. 245 The Chymistry of the Galenical Tribe is
a ridiculous..and..dangerous Empericism.

and, finally, to answer the querier's point, the 'apparently' first use as
applied to 'philosophy' but cfr. the very earliest attenstation above:

1796 F. A. NITSCH Kant's Princ. concerning Man 218 The comfortless attacks
of Fatalism, Scepticism, and Empiricism.

--- As for Greek the 'en-peira' merely emphatises, so I would think that
_whatever_ *sense* 'empeiria' had for the Greeks is is _derivative_ or
'figurative extension', not sense really, from 'peira', trial.

peira , as (Ion. peira, acc. peiran, gen. -ês), Aeol. perra Choerob. in An.
Ox. 2.252 : hê:--

A. trial, attempt,

p. toi mathêsios archa Alcm.63 ; opp. doxa, Thgn.571 ; peirai d' ou
prosômilêsa pô S.Tr. 591 ; pikran peiran tolmêsein Id.El.471 ; peirai sphalênai
Th. 1.70 ; ên men xumbêi hê p. Id.3.3 ; peirai thên panta teleitai Theoc.
15.62 ; peiran echontes

being proved, Pi. N. 4.76 ; but peiran echein tinos to have experience of .
. , X. Cyr.4.1.5 ; p. tinôn echein hoti . . Id.An. 3.2.16 ; p. echei tês
gnômês involves a trial of your resolution, Th. 1.140 ; peiran tinos
lambanein or labein to make trial or proof of . . , E. Fr.691, Isoc. 12.236, Pl.
Grg.448a, X. An.6.6.33, etc. ; also,

gain experience of . . , en heautôi ib. 5.8.15 ; p. l. tinos, hopôs echei
Pl. Prt. 342a ; p. l. tinos, ei ara ti legei Id.Thg. 129d ; peiran tinos
didonai (cf. Lat. specimen sui edere) Darei Epist. in SIG 22.21, Th. 1.138,
Isoc. 3.45 ; p. tês doxês dounai Th. 6.11 ; p. ergôi dedôkenai D.18.107 , cf.
195 ; p. allêlôn lambanontes kai didontes Pl. Prt. 348a ; peiran
poiêsasthai Th. 1.53 ; p. poieisthai ei . . Id.2.20 ; tais p. basanizein Arist.
GA747a3 ; peiran katheinai Ael. VH2.13 , cf. NA1.39 ; p. dexasthai undertake,
Plu.Pyrrh. 5.

2. with Preps., apo peirês

by experiment, opp. automaton, Hdt.7.9. g ; dia peiras ienai Pl. Ax. 369a ;
dia p. ergôn elêluthe Onos. Praef. 7 ; apodokimasthênai dia tês p. Arist.
Pol. 1341a37 ; es peiran êlthomen philôn E. Heracl. 309 , etc. ; iena<*>i
es tên p. tou nautikou try an action by sea, Th. 7.21 ; akoês kreissôn es p.
erchetai turns out on trial greater than report, Id.2.41 ; ek tês p. dêlon
Arist. Pr. 938b38 ; Kurou en peirai genesthai

to have been acquainted with Cyrus, X. An. 1.9.1 ; en p. telos diaphainetai
Pi. N. 3.70 ; epi peirai by way of test or trial, Ar. Av. 583 ; epi p.
dous on trial, Men. 118 ; p. thanatou peri kai zôas a contest for . . , Pi.N.
9.28.

II. attempt on or against one, peiran tin' echthrôn harpasai a means of
attacking . . , S. Aj. 2 ; toioude phôtos p. eu phulakteon A. Th. 499 ; esp.
attempt to seduce a woman, Plu. Thes. 26, Cim. 1 : abs.,

attempt, enterprise, A. Pers. 719 (troch.), Th. 3.20 ; peiran aphorman to
go forth upon an enterprise, S. Aj. 290 ; cf. peiratês. (Cf. Lat. experior,
peritus.)