Romanticism and Empiricism: Or Romantic Empiricism

In this chapter, I develop the idea of “romantic empiricism” in light of Stephen Gaukroger’s discussion of the “failures of philosophy.” I explicate what Gaukroger regards as the main features of philosophy and how they have (necessarily) resulted in its inability to achieve its goals. Specifically, Gaukroger explains that while philosophy’s methodology is highly abstract, one of its key goals is to address lived experience and present a morality for everyday life. The fact that the two are incompatible is one way by which to understand the failures of philosophy. Yet, I argue, what if we did not agree with the first premise—namely that philosophy’s methodology is highly abstract? I offer the methodology of the “romantic empiricists” as a counterpoint to the most well-known traditions within philosophy and contend that the approach which these thinkers developed was both significant in its time and remains relevant today. I further suggest that romantic empiricism can help us overcome not only challenges internal to philosophy but also larger social challenges, which are closely connected to—as Gaukroger rightly recognises—the emergence and ever-increasing force of the “two cultures.”