Ultimately, I’ve found that the line between empirical and theoretical analysis is often very blurry, and if someone does develop a decent brightline to distinguish the two, it turns out that there are often still plenty of valuable theoretical methods, and some of the empirical methods can be very misleading.
For example, high-fidelity simulations are arguably theoretical under most definitions, but they can be far more accurate than empirical tests.
Ultimately, I’ve found that the line between empirical and theoretical analysis is often very blurry, and if someone does develop a decent brightline to distinguish the two, it turns out that there are often still plenty of valuable theoretical methods, and some of the empirical methods can be very misleading.
For example, high-fidelity simulations are arguably theoretical under most definitions, but they can be far more accurate than empirical tests.
Overall, I tend to be quite supportive of using whatever empirical evidence we can, especially experimental methods when they are possible, but there are many situations where we cannot do this. (I’ve written more on this here: https://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/2022/11/30/complexity-demands-adaptation-two-proposals-for-facilitating-better-debate-in-international-relations-and-conflict-research/ )