Good theory explains data but cannot remain at data’s level

Evidence

But empiricism is not the same as the empirical — any worthwhile theory must account for empirical data, but, in order to do so, it cannot remain at the same level of the data it is seeking to explain. Besides, empirical facts typically have little to do with the phenomenological experience of individuals. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2456

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clears a key conflation: empiricism (a philosophical stance) versus the empirical (data), useful across all of Fisher’s work.
• XREF: connects to: Biopolitical population statistics cannot reach the psyche that Big Data exploits — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New…, 58; Truth of a theory is independent of either its productivity or its non-application; Big Data logic rejects theory-driven hypothesis testing in favor of raw pattern extraction — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 394 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Big Data logic rejects theory-driven hypothesis testing in favor of raw pattern extraction #exemplifies (0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 394
• The Methodenstreit pitted inductive data gathering against deductive first-principles theory #exemplifies (0.78) — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 60
• Circular theory that only restates known conclusions produces no genuine knowledge #expands (0.75) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 266
• Truth of a theory is independent of either its productivity or its non-application #contradicts (0.70)