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David Hume Skepticism Of Induction Analysis

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David Hume is a famous Scottish philosopher who was very popular in 18s. He developed many theorical principles such as empiricism or naturalism, and one of his most popular among his works is so called “the radical skepticism of induction”. The skepticism is considered by Hume as one of significant issue towards the problem of induction in the history world of philosophy.
David claimed that human had no innate ideas, all knowledge they had earned from their experience at the same time, inductive reasoning and beliefs in causality were not justified logically, however human’s beliefs in causality and induction derived from their custom as well as mental habit. By these points of view of Hume, it can be summarized that he has strong belief that induction has no interconnection with f epistemology or well-known as "the theory of knowledge”. …show more content…

Therefore, what he believed is that rational justification could not be found in human reasoning. For example, if there is a man who is very skeptic into a doubtful issue. Though he understands the relation of cause and effect for instance, as he finished work, he felt happy, they are not connected to each other as he thought because there are still a number of key elements in his life which are to be linked by one thing erupting, leading to another thing as “cause and effect”. Hume still claimed that there was no genuine justification for this concept of two things happening as cause and

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Again premise three says ‘Generally, when effects resemble each other, their causes do as well’. In Hume’s objection it says if two things are exactly alike, then they are general caused by things that are exactly alike. The world is not exactly like a machine though, some parts may be comparable but there are immense differences. One example from class was a crater created by a bomb and a crater created by a meteorite. Another example is a forest fire; it could be created by a lighting strike or by human fault.

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Therefore, we cannot say that there is a necessary connection between two events, for we can “only find that one does, actually, follow, on the other” . Hence according to the RI, Hume does not believe that there are causal powers, but merely speaks of constant conjunction and regularity. The RI’s strength lies in the absence of appeal to non-logical causal necessities. However, the question at hand is if Hume would have held such an opinion, and not if the RI’s account of causality is strong. While the RI is consistent with Hume’s empiricist views, Hume as a skeptic would have been more inclined to argue that we cannot know if secret connexions exist (as he does in Sections 4 and 7 of the Enquiry), resorting to non-committal skepticism and agnosticism, rather than making an ontological claim that constant

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Comparing Hume’s Casual Doctrine In the Enquiry and the Treatise Modern Philosophical Texts MA Course 0364481   The first definition of cause Hume presents in his Enquiry is ontological, whereas the second definition is psychological. The key blunder of the skeptic’s interpretation of the Enquiry is the supposition that both definitions are equal, and also the critical error of the supposition that from merely one experiment, an association of ideas can be derived. The aim of this paper is to try to attempt to summarise Hume’s position on causality as it relates to his works throughout his life’s entirety, as well as secondary views on this matter.

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According to Hume, while all events are causally decided by prior events and conditions, this does not prevent the possibility of free will. In Hume's view, free will is not the absence of causal determination, but rather the absence of external constraints on human action. That is, individuals have free will when they can act by their own desires, motivations, and beliefs, without being coerced or constrained by external forces. One of the key features of Hume's compatibilist position is its emphasis on internal factors in human action. Hume believed that our desires, motivations, and beliefs play a crucial role in shaping our actions, and that these internal factors are not incompatible with determinism.

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Hume’s argument against induction is that “only meaningful propositions are relations of idea and matter of fact”. This meaning that the claim must be priori or a posteriori. However, Hume contradicts himself because his own argument does not meet his own criteria of a meaningful proposition. This is because his statement is not a relation of ideas or a matter of fact. The grue-problem is almost like predicting what will happen in the future based on what happened in the past.

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In this philosophical essay, I will be providing a brief introduction of David Hume’s skeptical argument against induction. Also, in order for Hume’s skeptical argument to make sense, I will also be referencing René Descartes’ theory of foundationalism and Sober’s categorization of beliefs into three distinct levels. Furthermore, I claim that both Hume and Descartes’ perspective of how rational justification is defined will always lead to skepticism being true. In addition, I will argue that there exists a valid, alternate perspective which will falsify David Hume’s skeptical argument and allow induction as a valid method of reasoning.

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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.

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