The Empirical Philosopher teaches philosophy to a world audience, using engaging experiments to explain the key texts of Western thought. In his Blog, he uncovers critical errors in interpretations of major works from the history of Western philosophy. With surgical precision, he provides new translations of these works in the Texts section. In the Store, you can buy hard-to-find antiquarian books essential for the study of Pre-Socratic philosophy. The Empirical Philosopher’s Instagram account deals with the sense and nonsense behind supernatural feats ascribed to philosophers. You can support his work and gain access to exclusive content via Patreon. Learn more about the Empirical Philosopher’s method by pressing the button below:
Read moreThe Empirical Philosopher is the pseudonym of Carlo A. van Oosterhout (1972). He majored in Philosophy, Art History and Archeology at Leiden University, The Netherlands, and is currently finishing his PhD thesis on the mathematics in Plato’s dialogues.
Using his own body as a laboratory, the Empirical Philosopher famously subjected himself to experiments with the goal of corroborating or disproving—from experience—the main thesis of the English mystic, philosopher, and expert on Pre-Socratic philosophy, Peter Kingsley (1953): that the philosophies of Pythagoras, Parmenides and Empedocles embody a forgotten mystical tradition that underlies Western civilization, and which can and should be revived through the application of breathwork, meditation, and magic. As part of this research project, the Empirical Philosopher learned how to recite ancient Greek and Latin hexameter; cleansed himself and fasted and prayed many a time; employed the arts of ἐγκοίμησις (enkoimêsis; “incubation”) and lucid dreaming in order to receive prophetic dreams; dabbled in the use of lead curse tablets, carefully incised with spells in ancient Greek; and ingested poisonous plants and fungi to induce visions (earning him the nickname “the junkie-philosopher”). The results of his experiments were rather unfavorable to Kingsley—in surprising ways, however—and will be the subject of an upcoming essay.
On this website, on Instagram, and (soon) also on YouTube, you will find the Empirical Philosopher address the following content:
– The influence of the Mysteries (primarily those centering on Persephone, Queen of the Dead) on early Greek philosophy; this topic will include the Empirical Philosopher’s diatribe against Peter Kingsley, Carl P. Ruck, and Brian C. Muraresku, which gained him a certain notoriety;
– Supernatural feats ascribed to philosophers, such as bilocation, levitation, teleportation, soothsaying, entering the Underworld (or Hell), space travel, the use of magic spells, transformation into another body (for example that of an animal), and other peculiar phenomena;
– A florilegium consisting of out-of-the-box interpretations of selected key texts from the history of Western philosophy; texts currently scheduled to be discussed (after the Summer of 2025) will be St. Anselm’s proof of the existence of God from the Proslogion; the transmission of Heraclitus’ fragment 6 through Plato and Aristotle; and a passage from Nietzsche’s Wille zur Macht (aphorism 577).