People Experience Similarity Among Natural Objects example essay topic

David Hume 1. Hume says, If we would satisfy ourselves, therefore, concerning the nature of that evidence, which assures us to matters of fact, we must enquire how we arrive at the knowledge of cause and effect. Hume then makes the claim that; knowledge of this relation is not, in any instance, attained by reasonings a priori. The support for this claim is that knowledge of cause and effect arises entirely from experience. If you presented an object to a man that he had never come in contact with, he would not be able to give you the causes or the effects of this mysterious object. You can not tell the causes or effects of a new object from the qualities, which appear to the senses.

Hume writes, nor does any man imagine that the explosion of gunpowder, or the attraction of a loadstone, could ever be discovered by arguments a priori. Only through experiences with gunpowder and a loadstone would you be able to know the cause, which produced it, or the effects, which will arise for it. Hume writes, When we reason a priori, and consider merely any object or cause, as it appears to the mind, independent of all observations, it never could suggest to us the notion of any distinct object, such as its effect; mush less, show us the inseparable and inviolable connexion between them. A man must be very sagacious who could discover by reasoning that crystal is the effect of heat, and ice and cold, without being previously acquainted with the operation of these qualities. Therefore, cause and effect is learned through experience. 2.

The circular reasoning in Section IV, Part II, paragraph 6, is, we have said that all arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect; that our knowledge of the relation is derived entirely from experience and that all our experimental conclusions proceed upon the supposition that the future will be conformable to the past. If we are to put trust in past experience and make it the standard of our future judgement then the arguments to support the statement must be probable or matter of fact and real existence. There is no such argument to support the supposition. To attempt and prove the last statement about the future being conformable to the past by probable arguments is evidently going in a circle because no probable argument exists.

3. When a man says, I have found, in all instances, such sensible qualities conjoined with such secret powers: And when he says, Similar sensible qualities will always be conjoined with similar secret powers This is the problem with induction as Hume saw it. When people experience similarity among natural objects, they then to form conclusions based on reoccurring observations. If every zebra I saw had stripes, I would come to the conclusion that all zebras had stripes. The problem is that I have not seen all zebras, so my conclusion about zebras might be false. All the premises about zebras might be true, but my conclusion could be false.

It is likely to some degree that all zebras I see will have stripes, but it is possible that my conclusion is wrong. I can imagine a zebra without stripes, but I have never seen one. That does not mean it does not exist. Hume's solution 1. Once a person acquires more experience and has lived long enough to observe similar objects, he will constantly infer the existence of one object from the appearance of the other. He has not from all his experience acquired any idea or knowledge of the secret power by which the one object produces the other.

He will continue in this same course of wrongful thinking. This is the problem. Hume presents a sceptical solution to this problem. His solution is, This principle of Custom or Habit. For wherever the repetition of any particular act or operation produces a propensity to renew the same act or operation, without being impelled by any reasoning or process of the understanding, we always say, that this propensity is the effect of Custom. This solution gives us the answer as to why we believe that all zebras have stripes.

It is a solution to the problem of induction. It is a principle of human nature. All inferences from experience, therefore, are effects of custom, not of reasoning. Custom is the guide to the future; it allows us to except a similar course of events with those that have appeared in the past.

2. It does not seem like a solution to the problem. The problem is people tend to form beliefs about objects through experience. If every Nintendo I saw was black, then I would form the belief that all Nintendo's are black.

But in my mind I can conceive a blue Nintendo, but still believe that no such thing exists. Also, I have not seen ever Nintendo in the world so it is possible that somewhere there is a blue Nintendo. This principle of Custom that Hume provides as an answer to the problem is not really a solution. I believe that it is merely a definition. He says that when we repeatedly see any particular act or operation, we produce the belief that the act or operation will repeat itself again because of the effect of Custom. That does not help us any with the problem.

It just defines why we have the problem. I don't believe that Hume's solution takes us any farther, but it does clarify the problem a little more.