The Missing Shade Of Blue

Question 1

Summary

Answer 1

The argument that if someone were to see all but one shade of blue, and then have all his known shades placed before him, he’d be able to identify the missing shade as he goes gradually from darkest to lightest, therefore gaining a simple idea without its impression, which therefore contradicts Hume’s copy principle.

Question 2

Hume’s response:

Answer 2

The missing shade of blue fails to undermine his general claim of the copy principle, and that it’s so insignificant and singular, he dismisses it as an “exception”, despite the fact it could disprove the entire ideology of Empiricism.

Question 3

Evaluation

Answer 3

Hume could have debunked the argument of the missing shade of blue if he had considered his claim of complexed ideas. In the given scenario, it’s logical that the man could’ve easily thought of the two shades of blue from either side of the missing shade and compounded them to identify the missing shade. This therefore keeps Hume’s theory of the Copy Principle validated, and is able to disprove innatism.