Full Idea
All competent thinkers agree with Bacon that there can be no real knowledge except that which rests upon observed facts.
Gist of Idea
All real knowledge rests on observed facts
Source
Auguste Comte (Intro to Positive Philosophy [1830], Ch.1)
Book Reference
Comte,Auguste: 'Introduction to Positive Philosophy', ed/tr. Ferré,Frederick [Hackett 1988], p.4
A Reaction
Are there any unobservable facts? If so, can we know them? The only plausible route is to add 'best explanation' to the positivist armoury. With positivism, empiricism became - for a while - a quasi-religion.
Related Idea
Idea 12379 You cannot understand anything through perception [Aristotle]