“Follow the data,” that now-ubiquitous aphorism, might seem like a novelty of our digital age. But it’s a throwback, really, to a long-standing philosophical doctrine called empiricism. In the 17th century, empiricists like Francis Bacon and John Locke urged their countrymen, too, to follow the data or, in other words, the facts given to them by way of observation or sensory experience.

Today, this advice may seem obvious, trite, or banal. Back then, it was revolutionary. In those days, authority figures worked overtime to convince the masses that their curiosity was a mere distraction. All that needed to be known was already known, they claimed, and there it was for everyone to see in holy books, ancient texts, and the official pronouncements of elites. Scout’s honor.