An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Volume I

John Locke was one of the greatest Enlightenment thinkers. In the first volume of An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, Locke masterfully argues against the rationalist idea of innate knowledge. Locke stated, "If we will attentively consider new born children, we shall have little reason to think that they bring many ideas into the world with them." This "blank slate" view encouraged the adoption of the empirical method as the way to practice science and influenced the writings of other...