Who observed theory without data is empty and data without theory are blind?
Simply so, is practice without theory blind?
Many people opt for the line which has been arguably attributed to Kant: ''theory without practice is empty; practice without theory is blind''. Others prefer the view attributed to Marx that ''practice without theory is blind, theory without practice is sterile''.
One may also ask, what does thoughts without content are empty intuitions without concepts are blind mean?
Thoughts without [intensional] content (Inhalt) are empty (leer), intuitions without concepts are blind (blind). It is, therefore, just as necessary to make the mind's concepts sensible—that is, to add an object to them in intuition—as to make our intuitions understandable—that is, to bring them under concepts.
This quote comes from the Introduction to The Critique of Pure Reason, which was published by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in 1781.