Hume Slides Flashcards
Is Hume an empiricist or a rationalist?
empiricist
Hume’s religious background
He was raised a strict calvinist but later opposed to organized religion
What kind of figure was Hume
a scottish enlightenment figure
Hume’s philosophy in a nutshell
- Rigorous empiricism
- Skepticism
- Atheism
Two types of perceptions
thoughts/ideas and impressions
Thoughts/ideas
Less lively
(Ex: The thought of a “chair,” or “country,” or “duty”)
Impressions
More lively
(Ex: hearing, seeing, feeling, loving, hating, desiring)
What thoughts can we have?
Anything we can put together from our basic Impressions. As long as it is not a self-contradiction.
(Ex: a “square circle” or a “married bachelor”)
What thoughts can we have (examples)
An apple
the economy
golden mountain
a virtuous horse
What does Hume think about innate ideas
he thinks innate ideas dont exist but that doesn’t mean that we’re free. It means we’re in flux.
Does Hume believe in God? Why?
He says God doesn’t exist because we can’t perceive God (taste him, touch him, hear him, see him, etc.)
What does Hume say about god?
“God” is just another complex thought we put together (not innate)
“[the] idea of God, as meaning an infinitely intelligent, wise, and good Being, arises from reflecting on the operations of our own mind, and augmenting, without limit, those qualities of goodness and wisdom”
This is like the painters analogy
Two sorts of “objects of human reason” (two classes of things we can think about)
Relation of ideas and matters of fact
Relation of ideas
Ex: Geometry, Definitions
Contrary implies a contradiction
They’re certain/necessary but don’t say anything about reality. It says something about definitions.
Ex: A square has four sides. This is a relation of idea because a square without four sides isn’t a square.
Matters of fact
Ex: The sun will not rise tomorrow
Contrary is NOT a contradiction
They say things about the world
Everything we know about the real world is a ______
“matter of fact”
Matters of fact are never _____
never necessary
Each property of an existing thing is known _______
a posteriori (i.e., individually, through sense experience)
Quote that Frim kept repeating in class
“all that is distinct is separable“ (no necessary connections)
Why is “all that is distinct is separable“
because our senses are separate from each other. Each sense experience is a thing of its own (separate)
How does Hume use Adam to explain “all that is distinct is separable”
“Adam, though his rational faculties be supposed… could not have inferred from the fluidity and transparency of water that it would suffocate him, or from the light and warmth of fire that it would consume him.”
Because every sense is its own thing, there is no connection between water being clear/fluid and the act of drowning.
All that is distinct is separable Ex: The “Molyneaux Problem” (as presented to Locke)
A blind person touches a sphere and cube every day. They get their vision back one day and they can’t tell which is cube and which is sphere just by looking at it.
Skepticism of the mind
You never experience the mind. The mind is just a bunch of perceptions put together (bundle theory).
Skepticism of causality
We never experience causality. Only Event 1 followed by Event 2.
“Motion in the second Billiard-ball is quite distinct even from motion in the first: nor is there anything in the one to suggest the smallest hint of the other.”
Skepticism of natural laws
Math (a priori reasoning) can’t discover these. Must be discovered through experience (a posteriori). Only THEN can we do math about it.
Math is never necessary or certain; May change.
skepticism of induction
“…all our experimental conclusions proceed upon the supposition that the future will be conformable to the past.”
But we have no basis to say this. There is no reason to suppose that the future will conform to the past
Because of the problem of induction, what else does Hume reject?
- Uniformity of Nature (unobservable)
- Principle of Sufficient Reason (unobservable)
The exact same ____ may (one day) have a totally different _____.
The exact same CAUSE may (one day) have a totally different
EFFECT!
We seem to live in a lawful universe, seem to do science, and seem to make predictions. What does Hume say to this?
“Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.”
What does Hume think about morality?
Skepticism of morality. Moral truths are feelings. We have the feeling first then we do stuff to cover up our passion and make it seem reasonable.
