The philosophical tradition founded by John Locke and developed by Berkeley and Hume, holding that all human knowledge comes from sensory experience rather than from innate ideas or pure rational deduction. British empiricism shaped the entire trajectory of English-language philosophy from the 17th century to the present, providing the methodological foundation for modern science and grounding much of liberal political thought in observation rather than abstract first principles.
Tradition
Empiricism
The philosophical view that all knowledge comes from experience rather than from innate ideas or pure reason.
Thinkers
Thinker
John Locke
1632–1704
John Locke was the founding philosopher of modern liberalism, grounding political legitimacy in consent, natural rights, and the protection of property
ThinkerDavid Hume
1711–1776
David Hume was a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher whose skeptical empiricism grounded politics in custom and sentiment, pairing conservative respect for institutions with liberal gradualism
Related through shared thinkers