David Hume (1711-1776) “ The Wrecking Ball ”
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Transcript of David Hume (1711-1776) “ The Wrecking Ball ”
David Hume (1711-1776)
“The Wrecking Ball”
Hume’s Work• A Treatise of Human
Nature (1739-49)• An Enquiry Concerning
Human Understanding (1748)
In Context…• The Enlightenment (late17th-late 18th
Century)o REASON
• The significance of Newton
Empiricism• Regards observation as the only
reliable source of knowledgeo Sense perception is the only reliable method
for gaining knowledge and for testing claims to knowledge
British Empiricism• Francis Bacon (1561-1626)• John Locke (1632-1704)
o “Tabula Rasa”• George Berkeley (1685-1754)
CharacteristicsoAnti-CartesianoNOT metaphysical• Purely epistemological
o Two questions:• How do you know?• What are the limits of knowledge?
Hume: “WE HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE”
• We only have PERCEPTIONS (beliefs which we feel are true)o IMPRESSIONS:
immediate sensations• Simple and complex
o IDEAS: copies of impressions• Simple and complex
• No impression = No idea
All we know are properties
• We don’t know that an apple exists; we just know its propertieso Roundo Redo Tasty
• Try to imagine something that has no propertieso YOU CAN’T!
• We can’t know objects, only their properies• This is called Bundle Theory
The Problem with Causality
• We can never know causeo We can only know custom or habit
Hume’s Conclusions• Reason can never discover the
nature, purpose, or plan of the world.• We have no knowledge of the
material world.• We can never know causes and
effects in the material world.• Metaphysics is a pointless pursuit
Hume introduces Phenomenalism
• The view that we have no rational knowledge beyond what is disclosed in the phenomena of perceptions. Mind is therefore a merely a collection of perceptions.