“Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furni
shed? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this, I answer, in one word, from experience . . . . Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects or about the internal operations of our minds perceived and reflected on by ourselves, is that which supplies our understanding with all the materials of thinking.” John Locke, “Essay Concerning Human Understanding”
What ideas about knowledge does Locke express in this passage?
Empiricism is the philosphical theory that states that all knowledge comes from human experience: from the information that a person obtains through his senses. Empiricism is contrary to other theories like idealism, or rationalism.
Jonh Locke was a very important empiricist, and he is in fact considered the founder of the British empiricist school. In the paragraph, Locke is saying that he believes all knowledge comes from human experience, because when a person is born, his mind is a blank, and can only be filled through sensorial information.
