David Hume
Wrote Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Wrote a History of England
Bkgrd Info
- 1711-1776
- Scottish
- studied law at 15, did not like it
- self-taught in philosophy
- published "Treatise of Human Understanding" at age 28
- thought it would make him a rock star like Newton.
- received little attention
- ReidReid
Thomas Reid
Reid, Inquiry & Essays
Bkgrd info (copied fr. Kate)
important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment (18th century)
Presbyterian Minister
age 16, MA from University of Aberdeen
age 21, licensed preacher for Church of Scotland
age 27, entered Ministry
age 54, wrote Inquiry into the Human Mind
he was called to the University of Glasgow to replace Adam Smith as Professor of Moral Philosophy
Common sense = “The most important use of the term “common sense” in R... & KantKant
Kant
Wrote Kant, What is Enlightenment?
Man's primary problem isn't sin; it's that he doesn't have the freedom to reason & be enlightened (??)
Background
came from Prussia, wrote under Frederick the Great
Kant - a rationalist who wants to confine reason to the bounds of experience
reason is bound by the condition of possible experience; cannot reason about unexperienced things
so, we can't reason a/b God crating the world because we didn't experience it
... were the only philosophers who took him seriously
His Philosophy
What was in the air
- the rationalism and deduction of DescartesDescartes
Rene Descartes
Background Info
1596-1650
educated at Univ of Paris
Catholic Christian
not an academic
wrote Descartes, Meditations of First Philosophy from a [[Rationalism
rationalistic]] perspective
claims he is making a whole new start in philosophy
D. arrived at a certain and evident knowledge of the truth. He wants to see if he can persuade others by the same method that he himself used.
... - NewtonNewton
Newton
came up with a limited small number of principles & explained everything with it
he was all the rage at the time of Reid, Hume; everyone wanted to be the new Newton
this is a code block
- test experimentally - EmpiricismEmpiricism
Empiricism
Britiain leaned toward empiricism, common law.
- Relgious wars
- SkepticismSkepticism
Skepticism
Skepticism is a valid, and helpful thing. [[The Chastity of the Intellect]]
Skeptical of what?
- meta-narratives?
- epistemology?
- senses?
A skeptic is one who doubts the viability & veracity of claims
Greek Camps of Skepticism
Academic Skepticism (can't express anything about what we know)
Pyrrhonic Skepticism (can't know anything about what we know)
Pyrrho lived very consistently w/ his philosophy, until he got mad at his cook for making bad fo...
Hume tells us he is applying Newton experimental method to the mind
What does Hume think ReasonReason
Reason
reason is the "natural light" DescartesDescartes
Rene Descartes
Background Info
1596-1650
educated at Univ of Paris
Catholic Christian
not an academic
wrote Descartes, Meditations of First Philosophy from a [[Rationalism
rationalistic]] perspective
claims he is making a whole new start in philosophy
D. arrived at a certain and evident knowledge of the truth. He wants to see if he can persuade others by the same method that he himself used.
...
what is the difference b/t reason & thinking?
what is thinking?
processing information?
in this case, can an animal think?
what is reason?
a type of thinking?
can you only accept what has been proven by reason?
reason is like a telescope: it lets us see things clearer; but it must have ... is?
Cause & Effect
There may be cause & effect, but we can't know what it is or if it is.
First Principles
Everything in the mind is either impressions or ideas.
- "All the perceptions of the human mind resolve themselves into two distinct kinds, which I shall call impressions and ideas." - first sentence of Hume's Treatise
- idea is just a copy of the impression
- we can make assocations/operations on ideas (math)
Bringing Ideal Theory to its logical conclusions
- impressions and ideas are the only thing that exists in the mind
- constant conjunction
- I have experienced these things together in the past, so I expect them together in the future
- "after the constant conjunction of two objects, heat and flame, for instance…we are determined by custom alone to expect the one from the appearance fo the other." -Ch 5, para 5 Hume, Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
- works well for ordinary life, but not so well for extraordinary things like Miracles
- cause & effect are only in the mind
- there is some underlying, unknowable force that is behind the cause/effect
- cause & effect are not based in reason; we only know them through experience of constant conjunction (senses, memory)
- Solipsism
- philosophy is not useful for living life
- custom & habit is how we live life (social experience)
- Hume couldn't say that because there is a creation, there must be a creator
- I didn't sense the creation of it, so I can't assume that it happened
- very empericist
- every idea must come from an impression
- Hume downplays the impact of his position
Math
For his philosophy on math, see my paper in Delvings: Hume - Final PaperHume - Final Paper
Hume - Final Paper
David Hume wished to explore and understand how people know things. To do this, he divided knowledge up into its different kinds, with different levels of certainty for each one. One of the kinds of knowledge is “Matters of Fact,” which are only known from experience, and and so cannot be known to be true. They can only be probably true. Another of the kinds of knowledge is “Relations of Ideas,” which includes all mathematical reasoning. This second kind of knowledge Hume c...