Hume starts by explaining definitions of causes and characteristics that make up the popular definition of cause. Contiguity is the idea that things go together, or are results of each other. Whatever objects operate together as causes and effects are seen as contiguous. There are chains of causes that lead to every effect, whether or not they can be discovered they are presumed to exist. As Hume puts it, “Heat and light are collateral effects of fire, and the one effect may justly be inferred

There is a transition from impression to idea, with the necessary connection possibly depending on the inference, instead of the inference depending on the necessary connection. The only connection or relation of objects, which can lead us beyond the immediate impressions of our memory and senses, is that of cause and effect, because we can base one inference from an object to another. The idea of cause and effect comes from past experience that informs us that some particular objects are conjoined with each other. There is, however, debate over whether a necessary connection exists between cause and effect. If cause and effect are connected, there must be a reason, or necessity for their connection. All of our ideas are formed from impressions, therefore there must be an impression that forms the idea of necessity, if there really is such an idea. The idea of necessity lies between cause and effect, therefore that is where the focus must turn.

His theories on the relation between impressions and ideas tie in directly with his idea of a necessary connection between cause and effect. We have internal impressions that form the ideas of necessity, and those ideas are based on repetition and resemblance, but do not prove the claim that there is a necessary connection between cause and effect. Ideas are not original, they are formed from impressions and influenced by resemblance, and experience. Cause is not an original idea, it is formed from impressions, which are in turn formed from experience. Therefore, we accept the idea of cause not because it is rational or well reasoned, but because of custom. Hume’s position is consistent, and ultimately if you accept his epistemology, you must accept the reasoning behind his ideas on cause and effect.

The ideas of cause and effect are contingent upon Hume’s concept of impressions from his epistemology. Those impressions were formed from perceptions of relations between cause and effect, which are based on experience. Impressions, in essence, formed the idea of a necessary connection between cause and effect. Impressions are based on experience, and the impression that formed the idea of a necessary relation between cause and effect was no different. The only reason for the idea of cause and effect being related was a previous experience, or custom that tied cause and effect together. Hume’s doctrine on causality is firmly founded in the concepts from his epistemology.

You can, however, have complex ideas of which you never had impressions that corresponded to them in the same order. Therefore, you can imagine all sorts of things that you have never seen, such as the “golden mountain” (158). “When we think of a golden mountain, we only join two consistent ideas, gold, and mountain, with which we were formerly acquainted” (158). Though there is a great resemblance between complex impressions and ideas, they are not always exactly the same. Simple impressions, on the other hand, always form simple ideas that resemble them. The idea can differ in degree from the impression, but not

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