...intelligent being to bring this action about. This being is God. The 18th-century philosopher David Hume wrote a book named Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion in which he criticised Aquinas’s teleological argument, and several other teleological arguments. Firstly, Hume says that the apparent intelligent functioning of many unintelligent bodies – e.g., the complex systems by which plants take up minerals from the soil to cause water uptake into their roots – can be explained by the ideas of natural selection and survival of the fittest, by which the organisms that happen by chance mutations to be most well-adapted to their environments are the ones which survive to reproduce, making their functions appear to be ordered specifically for their environments and therefore seeming designed. Therefore, apparent design may well not be in fact design. Hume uses this idea to criticise the major premise of Aquinas’s teleological argument. Hume also asserts that the world does not necessarily point to an intelligent designer. He uses the apparent cruelty often observed in nature – said to be “red in tooth and claw” – to argue that even if the universe had been designed, it was designed with flaws. For example, cats play with their prey for some time before they kill and eat it. The prey is caused to suffer unnecessarily by this – i.e., the suffering does not contribute to the cat’s survival. This, Hume posits, is one of many instances of flaws in the world. If the world was designed, the designer...
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...behind every event that occurs and while Determinism as a term wasn’t coined as a term until the 19th century, David Hume explored these major concepts in his Enquiry, delving into the roots of humanity and questioning the truth of human freedom.1 In particular his exploration into human understanding leads him to conclude that there is no effect without a cause and liberty when opposed to necessity cannot universally exist.2 Hume’s discovery, the Causal Maxim, and is generally accepted among philosophers, though it is not enough in and of itself to prove that he fits the mold of a determinist. However, by delving further into his various arguments, I will prove that Hume’s philosophy, mainly the denial of induction and support of causation, follows the discreet specifications of Determinism. Essential to the understanding of Hume’s philosophy is his idea of the universal necessity of connection between cause and effect, though he aptly admits that this connection is unobservable and denies that humans can ever have a true understanding of cause and effect.3 To explain such a broad claim Hume addresses a situation in which causality could prove troublesome by illustrating that God, through an immense causality chain, could be the true author of crime and immorality. This approach at explaining the connection between human criminality and God is deterministic, though Hume quickly halts this explication by admitting that it is outside of the bounds of human reason to understand...
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...David Hume is a Scottish philosopher, who is well recognized for his efforts on empiricism and skepticism. As a matter of fact, in An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding he focuses on epistemology, which highlights the limitations that knowledge encounters. Hume introduces the problem of induction, which is basically the philosophical issue of examining whether knowledge can be derived from inductive reasoning, and as a result whether it can come from experiences. He evidently discusses the dependability of empirical claims, and consequently of natural sciences also. In this paper, I plan at first to present Hume's problem of induction while explaining what he means by matters of fact and relations of ideas as well as emphasize the...
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...David Hume, a Scottish philosopher who denied rationalism because he did not truly believe in God and he could be considered an atheist. Consequently, he believes that experience is the sources of ideas, but does not believe that experiences hold the source of truth. Additionally, Hume states that ideas have connections between other ideas and that they can by divided into three parts: resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. When it comes to God, Hume believes that God originates from being influence by others and that the theological arguments of god existence contains some problems. Firstly, it depends on the experiences of the world based on senses and the mind, but Hume responds that the world is unpredictable and nothing is for certain. Secondly, the over use of analogies weakens the argument because it is not giving a clear answer and may...
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...David Hume Empirist, skeptiker og nominalist. Hva er det vi kan vite sikkert og hvor kommer denne viten fra? Målet er å undersøke våre forestillinger og tanker i den hensikt å bekrefte/avkrefte deres sannhets- eller gyldighetsgrad. Analytisk kunnskap: kunnskap om forhold mellom begreper: logikk og matte. Sier ikke noe nytt om verden rundt oss. Syntetisk kunnskap: Gir oss ny informasjon om subjektet. Baserer seg på sanseinntrykkene. Den er ikke sikker kunnskap, da sanseinntrykkene kan lure oss, men det er det nærmeste vi kan komme kunnskap om verden. Det finnes ikke noe kunnskap om verden som ikke har sitt opphav i sanseerfaringen → det ligger til grunn for empirismen. Inntrykk: en form for erfaring, umiddelbar, blir skapt i oss ved hjelp av sanseinntrykkene, en direkte opplevelse av noe. Forestilling; en form for erfaring; inntrykk man tenker tilbake på og minnes, mattere og mindre klare enn inntrykkene, noe vi i siste instans fører tilbake til sanseinntrykk. Sammensatte forestillinger: inntrykk og forestillinger settes sammen, noen ganger til rare kombinasjoner som for eksempel forestillingen om Gud. Gud er dermed ikke basert på noen sansning av Gud selv. Assosiasjonsprinsippene ”liket”: gruppering av enkeltting → hume som nominalist. Assosiasjonsprinsippet ”sammenheng”: vi slutter fra en ting til det som er i nærheten → fra en stjerne til alle de andre stjernene. Assosiasjonsprinsippet ”Årsak/virkning”: kritiserer årsaksbegrepet!! Biljardkulene → hendelsesforløp...
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...Renaissance to Revolution Term Paper Abbas Ali David Hume and the Fallacy (Philosophy) of Religion David Hume is considered the greatest philosopher Britain has produced and an intellectual hero to many atheists. His arguments against religion are clear, incisive and devastating. However, some people have misconstrued his agnosticism to represent faith and claim that while Hume challenged conventional religion, he himself believed in God. In this paper I will attempt to refute some of these claims by briefly highlighting some of Hume’s most compelling arguments against religion and showing how they leave little room for belief. I will also delve into some of the context surrounding Hume’s work to show how speaking against religion was a dangerous game in those times and restricted Hume’s ability to speak freely. Some of the primary sources used for this paper include Hume’s most famous works on religion, including The Natural History of Religion and Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. Secondary and tertiary sources include scholarly critiques of Hume’s texts as well as reviews and journals interpreting his work one way or another. To start with, lets have a look at an excerpt from, The Natural History of Religion, published in 1757. In the following passage, Hume summarizes his views on religion as “sick men’s dreams”: What a noble privilege is it of human reason to attain the knowledge of the supreme Being; and, from the visible works of nature, be enabled to infer...
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...David Hume was an empiricist who thought that a sense of experience is essential to knowledge. In his interpretation of the mind, he affirms that it is unbounded in its potential, and that the contents of the mind are limited to what we experience. Hume held the belief that all the contents of the human mind were derived from experience only. He doubts that an individual can be so indifferent that he or she is unable to distinguish between right and wrong. He divided the mind’s perceptions into two groups, impressions and ideas. Impressions are those perceptions which are the most strong, vivid sensations, and are immediate data of experience. While ideas are only copies of impressions. Impressions are directly experienced and they include desires, emotions, and wills. Ideas, on the other hand, are coping mechanisms which produce memories that are less vivid and clear. He also states that complex ideas can be broken down into simple ideas and imagination can combine ideas. He proposes that the notion of the self has no empirical foundation. Hume postulates that all ideas are related to each other in three different ways, resemblance, contiguity, and causality. Hume then questions “What is the impression of the continuous self?” , which he answers “none” because the impression must in some way endure throughout a person’s whole life from birth to death. He states that a person can only find several impressions of present experience. Those several impressions create a bundle...
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...In the following essays: Moral, Political, and Literary written by Hume in 1748, he states his justification against the social contract theory called, “Of The Original Contract”. The social contract theory has two main claims. First, it states that the government and its people have entered a mutual contract with each other. Secondly, . In the end, Hume’s criticism that involves the theory, “Of The Original Contract” will be elucidated. The social contract theory showcases two different ideas of consent. Moreover, the two ideas are presented as actual and express consent. This fortifies the difference in how someone consents such as agreeing on terms through verbal agreement or non-verbal. Non-verbal express consent can show how one government has the...
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...David Hume David Hume Cornelia Roberts-Pryce Cornelroberts@yahoo.com Content David Hume Abstract TCO 4 -Given the intellectual climate of post-WWI Europe, analyze the emergence of the philosophies of existentialism and logical positivism based upon the principles of modern humanism According to lecture 1, the Enlightenment was characterized by a questioning of current beliefs (including religious belief) and customs and a turn towards the benefits of science. People today think that democracy is a direct outgrowth of Enlightenment thinking but Hume, Locke, Voltaire, and others did not think that the general public was able to reason and that it could or should not be educated (Stromberg, 1994). Introduction The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contributions of David Hume (1711-76) to the period of history during the enlightenment age developing theories of the doctrine of Empiricism. There are two doctrines which follow this principle. The first doctrine is that most, if not all, concepts are ultimately derived from experience; the second is that most, if not all, knowledge derives from experience, in the sense that appeals to experience are necessarily involved in its justification. Neither doctrine implies the other. Hume belongs to the tradition of British empiricism that includes Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), and George Berkeley (1685-1753). Common to this tradition is the view that knowledge is founded...
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...On the one hand, David Hume makes the claim that every inductive argument requires that nature is uniform, meaning that the uniformities observed in the past will hold for the present and future as well. And on the other hand, he argues that no rational justification can be given for that premise, that the principle of uniformity of nature (PUN) cannot be justified especially by the use of induction. He supports this assertion by contemplating three options: an inductive argument in favor of PUN, a deduction of PUN from past observations, and a deduction of PUN from definitions. He asserts that none of these ways of defending PUN is effective because they do not provide definite proof. Therefore, Hume concludes that the inductive inferences we make aren’t rationally justifiable. Now, based on Hume’s claims, the conclusion that we would come up with abduction arguments would not change Hume’s conclusion because it doesn’t...
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...A miracle, as a broad definition, is an act of God that “transgresses the laws of nature” (David Hume), an act that seems to defy all rational. For many this offers strong evidence for the existence of God, as these inexplicable events must have a cause, that of a transcendent, metaphysical being. However, for others, most notably David Hume, miracles are a logical impossibility, an oxymoron if you will. He tried to prove, through a priori and a posterior reasoning that miracles, because of their metaphysical origin, cannot be what people claim them to be (intervention by God). Problems with the law of nature to language problems with the way miracles are experienced and reported provide ammunition for those that agree with the assumption in the title. By defining what miracles are and then exploring the criticisms and counter criticisms for these definitions we should arrive at a conclusion as to whether miracles, in the sense they are defined, are possible. Brian Davis proposed that there were two different types of miracles, the essential difference being the varying degree of possible divine intervention that can be attributed to the event. Strong Miracles are events that can only be attributed to God – he is intervening in the world to change the course of history. This may be, as Hume suggested, a “transgression of the laws of nature by a particular violation of the Deity, or by the interposition of some invisible agent”. However, Humey boy took issue with strong miracles...
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...Quiz #1 Questions 1. Give full and logical descriptions of the philosophy. Biography is optional. 2. Give any comparison you consider interesting. Pro/Con Philosophers 3. Your personal opinion about this philosophy. David Hume 1 Biography 1711 – 1776 Scottish Philosopher Self-Proclaimed Agnostic Did not believe we could answer the question, “Does God exist?” Exiled and moved to France Leading thinker in European enlightenment Wrote treaties on ethics, knowledge, religion, and human nature. Was called, “Good David”, remarkably kind and humorous, or the Scottish Skeptic Essay, “Of Self-Love” Essay, “Moral Distinction not Derived from Reason” All action is motivated by selfishness, or “self-love”. This claim in psychological egoism is at odds with our regular experiences with people In which we act with “such affections as love, friendship, compassion, and gratitude”. Reducing things down to one cause may work in natural sciences, but it is unnecessary and inaccurate in the human sciences. In “Moral Distinctions not Derived from Reason”, argues that morality is not based solely on pure rationality, but on our “sentiments,” Sentiments – Our feelings of acceptance or disapproval. Thus, moral thinking is also moral *feeling* Supported by examining cases of moral “turpitude” 1. Incest 2. Murder 3. Ingratitude “To [even] the most careless observer, there appear to be such dispositions...
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...In David Hume’s Skeptical Philosophy, he criticizes the Cartesian perspective on the senses. According to Descartes Rene, humans should be skeptics. This saves them from “error and rash judgment” (78). Humans need to doubt their former opinions and faculties if they are only believed because of the perception of their senses. Descartes believes that because our senses have deceived us before, there is room to doubt our senses. Therefore, if these opinions or beliefs are held within the senses, they cannot be claims of truth, since there is room for doubt. The only way to trust the senses, is to be assured by a “chain of reason” (78) to the first principle. Hume believes that this is not possible, and if it were, it would not give them reason to assure anything else as absolute truth. Hume says that we should be skeptics but not in the Cartesian way. He does not agree in rejecting everything believed through the senses. Hume believes that careful...
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...‘Those things…which are done by divine power apart from the order generally followed in things.’ Plus his threefold understanding of miracles. Hume: ‘a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the deity.’ John Mackie: ‘a violation of a natural law…by divine or supernatural intervention. The laws of nature describe the ways in which the world – including of course, human beings – works when left to itself, when not interfered with. A miracle occurs when the world is not left to itself, when something distinct from the natural order as a whole intrudes into it.’ Richard Swinburne: ‘a miracle is a violation of the laws of nature, that is, a non-repeatable exception to the operation of these laws, brought about by God. Laws of nature have the form of universal statements “all As are B,” and state how bodies behave of physical necessity.’ Examples of miracles: miracles of Jesus, choir in Beatrice Nebraska. What the scholars say in favour of miracles: Aquinas: it is possible for God to bring about a miracle, providing it is not logically impossible (e.g. God could not square a circle). Keith Ward: laws of nature are probabilistic not fixed: it is possible for laws of nature to be bent. Miracles are likely to happen in the presence of deeply religious people. What scholars say against miracles: David Hume: 5 criticisms of miracles: 1. Miracles need huge amounts of evidence to corroborate them; 2. People believe in miracles because they...
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...Kant VS Hume David Hume works from world to mind, Immanuel Kant from mind to world. Hume, how we experience the world is conditioned by the world. Kant, how we experience the world is conditioned by the mind. Most contemporary philosophers believe that Hume refuted the views of the rationalists before him (Descartes, Hobbes Spinoza, and Leibniz), who all held that there is an element of genuine a priori reasoning in causal inference. According to Hume, however, causal relations are not logically necessary, and hence they cannot be known a priori. To say that even if A caused B, it is not logically impossible to suppose that, given A, B might not have occurred. (De Pierris) So far as reason and logic are concerned, given a particular event, anything may happen next. This is precisely the reason why causal relations cannot be known a priori; in order to determine whether or not a causal relation holds between A and B we must rely on our experience of similar relations. "There are no objects," wrote Hume, "which by the mere survey, without consulting experience; we can determine to be the causes of any other; and no objects, which we can certainly determine in the same manner not to be the causes" (Lorkowski) Hume analyzed the idea of causality by emphasizing the three demands that can be verified through observation. First he argued the aspect of constant conjunction. In this aspect, the cause and effect must be spatially and constantly existent. Secondly, he asserted that...
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