Sunday, May 4, 2008
Hume- section IV- skeptical thoughts
In this section of skeptical thoughts, Hume is explaining the operations of the human mind's understanding. Hume says human reason can be divided into relations of ideas and matters of fact. Relations of ideas is like geometry, algebra and arithmetic. Things like 2+2=4 and 4 is half of 8. All of those ideas are relations of one another. Matters of fact is different. Matters of fact is like saying that the sun will rise everyday. When the sun rises, it gives off light and heat. Matters of fact can also be described as cause and effect. Because something happens, an effect occurs. Cause and effect is learned by experience. It is like in a game of pool. Because you hit all of the pool balls on the table with the que ball, all of the other balls that were hit scattered all over the pool table. Later on Hume says, "No object ever discovers, by the qualities which appear to the senses, either the causes which produced it, or the effects which will arise from it; nor can our reason, unassisted by experience, ever draw any inference concerning real existence and matter of fact." This is crazy how he states that nothing that we know in life can ever draw an inference concerning our real existence. I think about life all the time. Things like how we got here, why we got here, what we are supposed to be doing. It is like questions you always wanted answered, yet there are no true answers out there.
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