David Hume. (1711-1776)
“I feel I should be a loser in point of pleasure; and this is the origin of my philosophy.” (page 601)
The basis to Hume’s philosophy is derived from fellow philosopher Sextus Empiricus who believed that our understanding of the world is based on “sense data”. All ideas are equal and therefore thinking is “worthless”.
This is otherwise known as Empiricism. Empiricism is associated with other great figures such as Hobbes and Locke, who are firm believers in gaining knowledge from perception.
Treatise of Human Nature. (1734-1737)
Divided into three books under the title “Enquiry into Human Understanding”, Hume attempts to describe the distinction between ‘impressions’ and ‘ideas’.
He claims that impressions come first and are said to be derived from experience. The section “Of Abstract Ideas” was an agreement with Berkley’s doctrine that “all general ideas are nothing… annexed to a certain term, which gives them a more extensive significance.” It was Hume’s belief that abstract ideas are in themselves individual, however in time, they may become overgeneralized through representation.
“By ideas I mean the faint images of these in thinking and reasoning… every simple idea has a simple impression, which resembles it; and every simple impression a correspondent idea.”(Page 601)
The “Self”.
Hume believed in mankind as a collection of different perceptions that are in perpetual flux and movement. That there can be no ‘impression’ of the self and therefore no ‘idea’ of it. His theory of the “self” banished the concrete from Psychology with his description of a bundle of perceptions that cannot enter into any part of our knowledge.
He explains “… when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception… of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I can never catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.” (page 602)
Joseph Addison (1672-1719), one of the first Journalists during the Restoration (the time of Hobbes, Locke and Johnson), had a very objective writing style, what with his characters often being “pleasure seeking”.
From Hume’s perspective, Addison's account of fact and fiction based on social events would be considered a perception, whereby his characters are stimulated by pleasure and pain. In his narrative “The Adventures of a Shilling” (1710) for example, Addison writes “…the busy men of the age, who only valued themselves for being in motion, and passing through a series of trifling and insignificant actions.”
Rejection of Descartes.
Hume's opposition of Cartesian philosophy was based on the idea that cause and effect is necessary. Hume, on the other hand, believed that we can only know cause and effect from experience, not from “reasoning” and “reflection.” For example, the statement “what begins must have a cause” is not certain as its connection is not logical.
“… necessity is something that exists in the mind, not in objects.” (page 605)
His "Seven Categories of Thought" deals with the difference between certain knowledge (experience) and probable knowledge (causal relations). For example, geometry is not as certain as algebra and arithmetic as “all our ideas are copied from our impressions.” Therefore, there can be no such thing as an impression of a causal relation.
Hume’s Doctrine.
From an objective viewpoint, Hume says that A and B are conjoined (A and B causes the impression of A to cause the idea of B). Subjectively, however, Causation is definable in terms of sequence, due to what Hume calls the “habit of association” (if I see an apple and expect to experience a certain kind of taste).
Causation.
Hume defined Causation as taking "us beyond the impressions of our senses, and informs us of unperceived existences.” (page 608)
This definition is derivative from the Causal Law in Physics, whereby we cannot possibly perceive cause and effect from the observed course of nature. Therefore, Descartes' theory can only be explained through habit and association. In Hume's view, "there is nothing in cause except invariable succession" (page 609) of which there is no rational justification.
The character development of Mr. Neville from French film “The Draughtsman’s Contract“ (1982) can be described as “strictly materialistic.” As an artist, he attempts to “never distort or dissemble” any of his paintings of a wealthy landowner’s estate. The deceptive human statue however is symbolic, as his role is to cause minor changes within these paintings, as if to represent “the way the world sees it.”
Here, the film enters into Hume’s theory of Scepticism, whereby “the supposition that the future resembles the past, is not founded on arguments of any kind, but is derived entirely from habit.” (page 609)
Knowledge.
It was Hume’s firm belief that science equals truth, similar to the theory of Francis Bacon around 150 years before (1561-1626). Belief is never rational since we can know nothing and what we do know is derived from experience.
Conclusion.
Described as a "symbolic quarrel" between Hume and Rousseau (1712-1778) towards the end of the Renaissance, it was argued that there can be no belief based on reason and therefore, pure empiricism couldn't possibly be a sufficient basis of scientific knowledge.
This lead to Hume's rejection of Bacon's inductive method.
“Induction is an independent logical principle, incapable of being inferred either from experience or from other logical principles, and that without this principle science is impossible.” (page 612)
Sources:
· Russell, Bertrand
“The History of Western Philosophy” (1996)
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