Empiricism
Understand empiricism — the philosophical approach that knowledge comes from sensory experience and observation, forming the foundation of the scientific method.
Empiricism is the philosophical position that knowledge derives primarily from sensory experience and observation rather than innate ideas or pure reason. As the philosophical foundation of the scientific method, empiricism was one of the most important intellectual developments of the early modern period, enabling the Scientific Revolution and reshaping humanity's relationship with the natural world.
The empiricist tradition in Western philosophy stretches back to Aristotle, but its modern form was developed primarily by British philosophers. Francis Bacon (1561–1626) argued for systematic observation and inductive reasoning — building general principles from accumulated evidence rather than deducing conclusions from first principles. John Locke proposed that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa (blank slate), acquiring all its knowledge through experience. Later empiricists — Berkeley, Hume — pushed the implications further, questioning the reliability of any knowledge beyond direct experience.
Empiricism's practical impact was the scientific method itself: the discipline of forming hypotheses, testing them through controlled experiments, recording observations precisely, and revising theories based on evidence. This approach — demonstrated spectacularly by Galileo, Boyle, Harvey, and Newton — proved so powerful at discovering natural truths that it gradually displaced authority, tradition, and revelation as the accepted basis for knowledge about the natural world.