He was a Scottish philosopher that worked hard in the field of skepticism, more so on his stance of religion. He asked why an ideal God would assemble an imperfect world from scratch. Usually around this century, religion, especially Catholic was never questioned or doubted by anyone. Though, Hume was the bravest soul to step forward and share his suggestion. Finally, a vital character who was extremely crucial to this faction was none other than Voltaire.
When it comes to Hume’s theories, specifically the principles of ideas, we can evaluate them based on their identities. Out of the three associative principles, “causation is the strongest and the only one that takes us beyond our senses” (Morris and Charlotte). Causation establishes a link between the present and the past and this can be compared to the relation between the cause and effect. Hume tries to show the ways we associate ideas, and the reasons why it’s supposed to stay that way. He doesn’t focus on explaining why we do it this way, he automatically assumes that humans understand this concept.
The clergy’s actions during the first scaffold scene demonstrate the hypocrisy of Hume’s idea of suspension of justice regarding the sinner. Upon being coerced into extorting Hester’s repentance, the young minister beseeches her to “name thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer... What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--yea, compel him, as it were--to add hypocrisy to sin?” (Hawthorne, Ch. 3). Although equally guilty, Dimmesdale’s position within the theocracy enables him to transfer the responsibility of confessing to his lover.
In the movie 12 Angry Men it showed many examples of Hume’s ideas such as skepticism, pluralism, relativism, and reasonable doubt. First let me explain what skepticism is, skepticism doubts the validation of knowledge or particular subject. Pluralism is the position that there are many different kinds of belief—but not all just as good as any other. Relativism is when the position that each belief is just as good as any other, since all beliefs are viewpoint dependent. Reasonable doubt is lack of proof that prevents a judge or jury to convict a defendant for the charged crime.
Hume is adamant that we are unable, in a single instance, to uncover a power or necessary connection in nature (Hume 1993: 41). For example, although we may experience events, such as one billiard ball impacting another, and the latter moving, we are not provided with anything that suggests a necessary connection (Hume 1993: 41-42). In such cases, we merely infer a casual relationship between the two objects, and it is through repeated experience that the objects are conjoined in our minds, giving rise to inferences about similar future events (Hume 1993: 44-46). For Hume, this is solely the “customary transition of the imagination from one object to its usual attendant” which is “the sentiment or impression from which we form the idea of power or necessary connexion” (Hume 1993: 50). Importantly, although we cannot know necessary connection in the world, nature is typically uniform, and we are accustomed to its regularity.
While Hume was more concerned with human nature and reason, Locke focused on the results, or knowledge, that science was uncovering at the time. Locke believed that science already had a solid foundation by which to build on, while Hume questioned this underlying structure and sought to find out exactly what this knowledge was. Further, Hume did not agree with Locke’s view of an innate ability to reason; Hume took the ‘blank slate at birth’ contention to its extreme arguing that even the ability to reason is acquired through experience. Finally, Locke’s argument for the existence of God is markedly different than that of Hume’s. Locke contends that because he (Locke) exists, and he could not have come into existence out of nothing, then something must have produced him.
If natural faculties are instincts, then Locke agrees with something synonymous with innate ideas. But it’s unclear, and frankly debateable, if the natural faculties contribute to a cumulative argument aimed at discrediting Locke. When we address Hume’s earlier passage, it seems like the most most credible ammunition against Locke. Insofar as Hume claiming that Locke’s ideas (possibly unbeknownst to the philosopher) are reliant on
The European Enlightenment Project 2015: David Hume David Hume (1711-1776) was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, being born there in 1711 to relatively well-to-do parents, and died there in 1776 at the age of sixty-five. In 1721, at the age of ten, he began down a road largely determined by his family when he enrolled in the University of Edinburgh, and left after three years destined to pursue a career of his own. The next decades saw him developing through his publications a brilliant theory of human nature and the extent of human knowledge.
Impressions are active and vivid. Ideas are copies of impressions and because of this, ideas are less active and vivid. These ideas include beliefs and pictures that are constructed up from an individual’s impressions through a variety of relationships, but because they are unoriginal copies of impressions they are once removed from reality. In the 2010 article titled David Hume: Impressions and Ideas, it states “Hume’s ideas associate with each other in three different ways” (Lindsay). Hume believes that an individual’s thoughts are great contributors in making the “self” that an individual desires to claim they have.
Hume asserts that impressions—our sense perceptions of human experience—lead to ideas—our memory of these perceptions, which act as building blocks for understanding the world (Treatise 1.1.1.8). Additionally, Hume argues that our ideas are, for the most part, “less forcible and lively” forms of our impressions, meaning that our memories of external stimuli are faint reminders of the actual experienced sense impressions (Treatise 1.1.3.1). Hume’s doctrine of impressions leading to ideas undergirds his epistemology and contextualizes and elucidates the philosopher’s postulations respecting math and geometry in 1.3.1 of the
He gives an example on (p.137, §37) and mentions that a man who should find in a desert country the remains of pompous buildings would conclude that the country had, in ancient times have been cultivated by civilized inhabitants, but did nothing of this nature occur to him, he would never form such an inference. After reading what Hume believed in I also think that as we all learn from the events that occurred from the past but one should relate to the current by eliminating part of the past in order to move forward with the knowledge attained. Per Hume he believes that before moving forward that one should have all belief of mater should be derived from objects and presented to the memory and customary between other objects. Thus, a belief is important in placing one’s mind with passion of love. All these are natural occurrences and nobody can prevent them when they occur.
He added “that mankind should believe the soul to be immortal;”(194) stating through his essay that the soul continues to be taught even after death by St. Bernard and God. While reading Hume there was an idea that was brought up in class, in which that if someone has no concept of a table it cannot exist. Hume’s idea on this is that “ we can never think of anything which we have not seen without us , or felt in our own minds. ”(197)
2. John Locke: the Origin of Our Ideas Before we can talk about Hume’s ideas, we should first take a brief look at Locke’s work, which is similar to Hume’s in certain aspects. According to Locke, all the ideas we possess can be roughly separated into two big groups: simple ideas, which cannot be decomposed, and complex ideas, created by combining the
While his philosophy was not very well taken in the early parts of his life it helped other philosophers to create their own ideas. He helped in the development of the “critical philosophy by Immanuel Kant and Auguste Comte’s positivism” (“David Hume”). He helped lead Kant to argue that “the validity of causal judgments is guaranteed” (Britannica Editors). David Hume overall is an “intensely admired figure” (Jessop). In History his works of The History of England, Hume wove stories of history into an interesting format unknown before him.
Hume states “For the object of our senses continue to exist, even when they are not perceived, their existence be independent of and distinct from perception; and vice versa” (P. 176). Hume explains that it is “Human nature” to derive to the opinions that something is continued or is distinct in existence when we make distinctions especially through the use of our senses, reason or our imagination. Hume continued to state, “A single perception can never produce the idea of double existence, but by some inference either of the reason or imagination” (177). I believe what Hume was trying to say was that in order for us to perceive, we must first assume that there is no distinction between perceptions and perceiving. I think, however, that we can correlate perception, and as a result, we will always make association of resembling ideas and can attribute identity to their causes, which eventually puts our minds at rest.
