An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding  is a work by  John Locke  concerning the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. It first appeared in 1689 (although dated 1690) with the printed title  An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding .  He describes the mind at birth as a blank slate ( tabula rasa , although he did not use those actual words) filled later through  experience .  The essay was one of the principal sources of  empiricism  in modern philosophy, and influenced many enlightenment philosophers, such as  David Hume  and  George Berkeley .