Humanism Lecture Four

Humanism – Lecture


David Hume (1711-1776)

Wrote his first book – from the ages 23-27 – A Treatise of Human Nature - never did much.

His next book – Essays Moral and Political – which was an immediate success.

After the success of this book he rewrote A Treatise of Human Nature and renamed it An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - by which it is known today.

Hume wrote some extensive books on the history of England – Hume wrote three other books that made him famous: Principles of Morals, Political Discourses, and one book which was published after his death, Dialogues on Natural Religion.

Hume wanted to build a science of man – to study human nature by using the methods of physical science – humanism.

Hume read a lot – and he could see there were many different opinions on different things – Hume thought that this was a major philosophical problem.

How can we know the true nature of things?

Hume shared the notion of the Enlightenment that: human reasons can solve human problems – he thought that a clear understanding of human nature and the workings of the mind could be reached.

Hume though discovered that his confidence in finding those answers though reason could not be done – Hume went from believing in reason to skepticism.

Skepticism – a person who believes that truth statements cannot be made.

Hume looked into the way thoughts are formed in the mind – Hume was surprised to find out how limited human thought was.

Hume thought that if all ideas come from experience (empiricism) then we accept the limits to knowledge that this forces upon us.

Hume’s Theory of Knowledge

Hume thought that the only way to answer very difficult questions was to look into the way in which the mind enquires – “examine the nature of human understanding”.

To do this Hume examined three areas:

(quote 1)

Hume’s Theory of Knowledge

Contents of the Mind

Association of Ideas

Causality


Contents of the Mind

nothing seems as unbounded as the mind - imagination not limited by the natural – flying horses and gold mountains – but the mind is limited it can only represent to us those things coming from experience – from perception.

Those perceptions can take two forms: impressions and ideas.

Ideas and Impressions make up the total contents of the mind.

The original is an impression – an idea is a copy of an impression.

The difference between the two is vividness (aliveness) – an actual event and the memory of it.

Vividness – strong and bright.

To feel pain is an impression – to remember it is an idea.

Hume claimed that without an impression we cannot have an idea – because every idea is merely a copy of an impression.

But what of a “flying horse” – we have never had an impression of that – but this is due, according to Hume, the minds ability to compound, transpose, and diminishes.

When we think of a flying horse we just put together (compound) wings, horses – which we have had as impressions.

Hume put the idea of God to this test – and said that it was a expanding of those impressions we get of humans, such as kindness, goodness, and wisdom.

But if all our ideas come from impressions – how do we explain thinking? or the way in which ideas put themselves together in our mind.

To do this Hume examines the next idea …

Association of Ideas

Hume said that it is not by chance that our ideas come together – there must be a deeper bond or joining together.

Simple ideas seem to join together to make more complex ones.

Hume thought that when simple ideas have certain qualities they will associate – come together with other ideas to make more complex ideas.

Those qualities are three in number – they are:

(quote 2)

Resemblance

Contiguity in time or place

Cause and effect


Contiguity – near, touching, neighbouring.

(quote 3)

“A picture naturally leads our thoughts to the original [resemblance]: the mention of one apartment in the building naturally introduces an enquiry concerning the others [contiguity]: and if we think of a wound, we can scarcely forebear reflection on the pain which follows it [cause and effect].”

Of these three qualities it was ‘cause and effect’ that Hume thought the most important – without cause and effect we can have no knowledge.

Causality

Hume’s most famous ideas have to do with causality –for Hume the very idea of causality – that we can know the causation – to be very doubtful.

Hume asks the question: What is the origin of the idea of causality?

And because all ideas must first come from impressions – he looked for the impression that was at the foundation of the idea of causality and could find no such impression.

How then does the idea of causality arise in the mind?

When we say cause and effect what we mean is that A causes B – but what is our experience of this – Hume says three relations:

(quote 4)

First: There is the relation of contiguity, for A and B are always close together.

Second: There is priority in time, for A, the “cause,” always come before B.

Third: There is constant conjunction, for we always see A followed by B.


There is another relation that idea of causality suggests to us and that is: necessary connections.

But – Hume says – there is no object, no matter how hard we study it, will imply the existence of another – no matter how hard we study oxygen it will never tell us that mixed with hydrogen it will give us water.

It is only when we see them together that we know this.

So while we have impressions of contiguity, priority, and constant conjunction – we do not have an impression of necessary connections.

Causality is not a quality in the objects we observe – but is a “habit of association” in the mind produced by repetition of instances of A and B.

And remember – Hume believed that causality was central to all kinds of knowledge – thus his attack on the principle of knowledge – undermined his belief in knowledge – thus his skepticism.