1001Philosophers

David Hume vs John Locke

Hume's empiricism builds on Locke's but pushes its consequences further than Locke himself was willing to follow. Hume is sometimes described as the most rigorous empiricist of the early modern tradition.

At a glance

David HumeJohn Locke
Dates1711 – 17761632 – 1704
NationalityScottishEnglish
EraModernModern
Movements Empiricism, Scottish Enlightenment Empiricism, Enlightenment, Social Contract
Profile David Hume → John Locke →

Where they agree

Both held that all ideas derive from experience, both took the analysis of ideas to be the central method of philosophy, and both rejected innate principles in epistemology. Both wrote outside the universities and in the vernacular, addressing educated readers rather than scholars.

Where they disagree

Locke held that we have rational knowledge of substances (ourselves, material objects, God), of necessary connections in nature, and of the persistence of personal identity through time. Hume rejected each of these claims as exceeding what experience strictly delivers: there is no impression of substance, of necessary connection, or of a persistent self. Hume's empiricism turns Locke's program into a sustained argument that the foundations Locke took for granted cannot withstand empiricist scrutiny.

Representative quotes

David Hume

  • “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.”

    Part 3, Section 3

  • “Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.”

    Variant (perhaps a paraphrase of this passage): It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.

  • “A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”

    Section X: Of Miracles; Part I. 87

John Locke

  • “No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”

    Book II, Ch. 1, sec. 19

  • “All mankind being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

    Second Treatise of Government , Ch. II, sec. 6

  • “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.”

    Second Treatise of Government , Ch. VI, sec. 57

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