In commonsensical thought, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empiricism emphasizes the central role of empirical evidence in the formation of ideas, rather than innate ideas or traditions.Empiricists may argue that traditions (or customs) arise due to relations of previous sensory experiences. Empiricism was associated with the “blank slate” concept (tabula rasa), according to which the human mind is “blank” at birth and develops its thoughts only through later experience.Empiricism in the philosophy of science emphasizes evidence, especially as discovered in experiments. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method that all hypotheses and theories must be tested against observations of the natural world rather than resting solely on a priori reasoning, intuition, or revelation.Empiricism, often used by natural scientists, believes that “knowledge is based on experience” and that “knowledge is tentative and probabilistic, subject to continued revision and falsification“. Empirical research, including experiments and validated measurement tools, guides the scientific method.A central concept in science and the scientific method is that conclusions must be empirically based on the evidence of the senses. Both natural and social sciences use working hypotheses that are testable by observation andexperiment. The term semi-empirical is sometimes used to describe theoretical methods that make use of basic axioms, established scientific laws, and previous experimental results to engage in reasoned model building and theoretical inquiry.Philosophical empiricists hold no knowledge to be properly inferred or deduced unless it is derived from one’s sense-based experience. In epistemology (theory of knowledge) empiricism is typically contrasted with rationalism, which holds that knowledge may be derived from reason independently of the senses, and in the philosophy of mind it is often contrasted with innatism, which holds that some knowledge and ideas are