Full Idea
There is something extraordinary in the coexistence of empiricism and natural science in the same culture, for they represent radically different and incompatible ways of approaching the world.
Gist of Idea
To find empiricism and science in the same culture is surprising, as they are really incompatible
Source
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory [1981], Ch. 7)
Book Reference
MacIntyre,Alasdair: 'After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory' [Duckworth 1982], p.78
A Reaction
I would say that science is commitment to an ontology, and empiricism is a commitment to epistemology. It is a very nice point, given the usual assumption that science is an empirical activity. See Idea 7621. Strict empiricism distorts science.
Related Idea
Idea 7621 Special relativity, unlike general relativity, was operationalist in spirit [Putnam on Einstein]