Machian Positivism

Machian positivism is a philosophy which proposes that knowledge should be based on experiments and observations. It is named after Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach, an Austrian physicist and philosopher who views experiences as crucial in our understanding: however, our experiences do not always represent reality.

For instance, it was proven from experience that the world is not flat and that a ship does not fall off from the “edge of the sea." However, a person who is hallucinating because of a psychoactive drug may perceive the world as “flat."