The Empiricist Voyage of Young Goodman Brown At the end of the 17th century, John Locke was one of the most influential people of his time. He was a famous philosopher who established radical ideas about the political, social and psychological ideals of humanity. One of his philosophical ideas, of which he is said to be the founder, is British empiricism. This idea holds that “all knowledge comes from the experience of both the mind and the senses” (“Empiricism” 480). In every man's life there comes a point in time when he comes to realize that there is a sense of evil in the world. Whether it's through something subtle like closing the door at night before going to bed or being confronted directly at gun point while a man demands your tennis shoes, at some point the man will realize that innocence of his childhood doesn't last forever. Locke believed that people gained knowledge from their own personal experience. For Young Goodman Brown, this experience comes with the journey into the forest with his traveling companion, as told in Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story. Initially, Brown was, as his namesake predicts, a "young, good man" who believes in the basic goodness of man, but in his heart's inner longings he longs to see what all the world has to offer. Therefore, he went on a "journey" to the forest to explore the world of this unknown evil. The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is a classic example of Locke's empiricist ideas in how the intrigues of the unknown attracted Young Brown as he experienced the transition from his initial idea of ​​the fundamental goodness of man to the reality that evil exists in Heart. of every man.However, before he can analyze Young Goodman Brown's journey into the for......middle of paper......h knows little about.Works CitedBrown, Vivenne. "The 'figure' of God and the limits of liberalism: a rereading of Locke's 'essay' and 'two treatises'". Journal of the History of Ideas 60.1 (1999): 85."Empiricism." New Encyclopedia Brittanica. 1998 ed. Volume 4, 480. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Bedford's compact introduction to literature. Ed. Michael Mayer. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 268-276.Locke, John. An essay on the human intellect. New York: Penguin, 1974. Meyer, Michael, ed. "A Study of Three Authors: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Flannery O'Connor, and Alice Munro." The Bedford Compact Introduction to Literature. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2000. 267.Tritt, Michael. "'Young Goodman Brown' and the Psychology of Projection." Studies in short fiction. 23 (1996): 113-117.