Epistemology · Sources of Knowledge

Empiricism

All substantive knowledge of the world comes from sensory experience.

What it claims

Empiricism claims that the materials of concepts and the justification of knowledge come ultimately from sensory experience. What this position denies is innate ideas. It also denies synthetic a priori knowledge that would inform us of substantive facts about the world without experience.

Nearby positions

Opposed to
Rationalism

Key thinkers

John Locke · David Hume · George Berkeley · Rudolf Carnap · Bas van Fraassen