Definitions, conventions and empirical judgments

pp. 69-79

in: Moritz Schlick, General theory of knowledge, Berlin, Springer, 1974

Abstract

Every judgment we make is either definitional or cognitive. This distinction, as we noted above (§ 8), has only a relative significance in the conceptual or "ideal" sciences. It emerges all the more sharply, however, in the empirical or "real" sciences. In these sciences it has a fundamental importance; and a prime task of epistemology is to make use of this distinction in order to clarify the kinds of validity possessed by various judgments.