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David Hume - PHIL202
David Hume - PHIL202
David Hume
His work chiefly deals with philosophy conceived as the science of human nature
He builds upon the scientific method of Newton and the epistemology of Locke to construct his arguments
A Treatise of Human Nature (Abstract)
- Follows on from Locke
- Radical in the sense that he completely flips reason in favor of ‘custom’ as the main
guiding factor of human life
- This work is concerned chiefly with the ‘reasonings of cause and effect’
Definitions Hume uses
- Perceptions are things that are in the mind, whether these are passions, reasons,
general thoughts, usage of senses
- Things reveal themselves are impressions, but then gradually become thought
Hume’s premises (cont’d)
- To explain cause and effect, he says impressions are causes, ideas are effects
- Although he admits nothing can be proven, probable arguments are built on the supposition
that the future will conform to the past
Hume’s argument (cont’d)
- Thus, it is not reason, but custom or habit that determines our belief in the future conforming,
or resembling the past.
- The hypothetical case of Adam, a man devoid of any experience, is a case in point. He would
never be able to demonstrate that effect follows from cause or vice versa from cognition.
- When the billiard ball hits the second ball, we just not imagine or conceive what will happen,
but also believe that it will, i.e. that the second ball will move surely and it could not be
otherwise