Hume Flashcards
Describe Hume’s example of the “missing shade of blue.” Why does he introduce this
example?
Hume introduces the “missing shade of blue” to show that even if someone has never experienced a particular shade of blue, they could potentially conceive it by imagining a gradation between shades, challenging his own empirical philosophy that all ideas derive from sensory experiences.
How does Hume distinguish between relations of ideas and matters of fact?
Hume distinguishes relations of ideasas truths that are found through reason, like mathematics and matters of fact are truths known through experience, like the sun rising tomorrow.
What are Hume’s three principles of association? Give an example of each.
Hume’s three principles of association are resemblance (a portrait reminding us of the person), contiguity (thinking of the kitchen when in the living room), and cause or effect (hearing a crash and thinking of a car accident).
Hume says: “[E]xperimental conclusions [concerning causes and effects] proceed upon the supposition, that the future will be conformable to the past. To endeavour, therefore, the proof of this last supposition by probable arguments, or arguments regarding existence, must be evidently going in a circle, and taking that for granted, which is the very point in question” (EU 4.19). Explain.
Hume argues that we cannot justify the assumption that the future will resemble the past through reasoning or experience, as doing so would assume the very principle under question—uniformity of nature.
Does Hume think that it is irrational to believe that, say, a fire will cause smoke?
It is not irrational if such belief is based on experience, however it is irrational to rely on causation to be absolutely certain there is a fire.
How does Hume think we acquire the idea of necessity (for example, when we think the
fire necessitates the smoke it causes)?
Through experience. He suggests that we acquire the idea of necessity through a conjunction of events. Our expectation that one event (fire) necessitates the other (smoke).
What is Hume’s definition of ‘cause’?
An object followed by another object and whose appearance always conveys the thought to that other.
Does Hume allow that we can infer a cause from the observation of a unique effect? Why or why not?
Hume allows it only through the habit or custom of associating similar effects with similar causes, not through rational deduction.
