The problem of induction arises from Hume's belief that propositions fall into one of two categories, relations of ideas and matters of fact. ... Hume goes on to say that this is a natural instinct, when speaking of this Hume says "these operations are a species of natural instincts, which no reasoning or process of the thought and understanding is able, either to produce, or to prevent". ... It is the problem of how we can justify these beliefs given that in Hume's view there is no rational way of doing that due to the belief that nature isn't a constant. It was his view that a...

• Word Count: 1008
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Then, digging deeper, we shall try our hand at a critique of his critique of religion, of resurrecting a natural belief in God. ... What Hume seeks to show is the failure of this argument to establish the type of deity that belief in a particular providence or divine action must require one to assert. ... Causes are to be known from effects alone; to ascribe to it any superfluous qualities goes beyond the bounds of strict logical reasoning. ... Hume countered this thinking because it constructed belief and certainty out of mere possibility. ... No one character fully presents the force of Hume...

• Word Count: 4391
• Approx Pages: 18
• Has Bibliography

By first laying out the ideas of Hume and then Kant, to be in chronological order, I hope to gain a fuller knowledge as to the similarities and differences of each philosopher's beliefs. ... In order to go beyond the objects of human reason, Hume proposed that reasoning was based upon cause and effect. ... Now Hume proposed that all inferences come from custom, not reasoning. ... All inferences from experience, therefore, are effects of custom, not reasoning. ... Therefore, our belief in necessary connections of the universe is based on rational facts. ...

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"Matters of fact," on the other hand, are learned a posteriori and all "reasoning concerning matters of fact seem to be founded on the relation of "cause and effect" (Hume 16). ... In an attempt to further defend his claim that foundation of our conclusions from experience are not founded on reasoning or any process of understanding, Hume divides all reasoning into two categories: demonstrative (concerning relations of ideas) and moral reasoning (concerning matters of fact and existence). ... Our mind is capable of perceiving this drastic proposal, and there is no way we can use reas...

• Word Count: 1547
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This paper will use Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", to demonstrate the validity of both philosophies on man's reasoning and his ability to gain knowledge. ... To examine these beliefs, let us look at a scenario where the puppeteer turns the lights on and off, and during the off time, tips the tree over and plays a "bang" sound. ... In accordance with Hume's belief, it is therefore totally possible to have wrong knowledge based on our experiences. ... It also validates Hume's belief as to the relationship of knowledge to our experiences and custom. At ...

• Word Count: 991
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Hume states that we are all creatures of custom. ... The point Hume is presenting here is wonderfully ironic. ... This may lead to the belief that if something is not truly provable then what is the point of valuing its worth in describing nature. ... His breakdown of causation is thorough and he tackles it in a general enough manner that his reasoning can still be at least appreciated. ... There isn't necessarily anything wrong with that but Hume suggests that it may be an invaluable experience to see what we can determine using reasoning as opposed sensual stimuli. ...

• Word Count: 1541
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Rationalism is the belief in innate ideas, reason, and the process of deduction. Empiricism is the belief in sense perception, induction, and that there are no innate ideas. ... The other is reasoning gained from perception or "matters of fact ". ... Descartes and Hume both made valid arguments for their beliefs, considering their ideas are still popular today. ... However, when dealing with people I take Hume's method of reasoning into account and use my personal judgement and prior experience to determine how I act and behave. ...

• Word Count: 1498
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

This person could not have any reasoning of fact outside what he is being exposed to or what was immediately present to his senses. ... Hume goes on to state that there are some situations such as being able to feel love or fear or hatred cannot be prevented or produced by reasoning, but that they are natural instincts based upon correlations with experience or custom. In Part two of section five Hume talks about how fiction and belief differ. ... He states that belief is something felt by the mind, which distinguishes the ideas of judgment from the fictions of imaginations. ... Hume als...

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Hume put forward two arguments that help illustrate his point. ... Hume suggests that "a wise man proportions his beliefs to according to the evidence." ... However Hume's arguments have been heavily criticized. ... Wiles' argument is well regarded as a theory that appeals the scientifically educated as is allows for a belief in God whilst upholding scientific laws. ... However Wiles' argument like Hume's has been heavily criticized, Wiles suggestion that an interventionist view of miracles makes God seem arbitrary and or a partisan is not really an issue as it is illo...

• Word Count: 1903
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It is often said that we are born with concepts and it is these concepts that structure our minds, beliefs, and actions. ... Hume is the second philosopher I will discuss. Hume's beliefs are different from Socrates. ... This theory does not include reasoning as a basis for you decisions. ... Hume's principles of cause and effect substantiate immediate learning, but you have to actually experience the event and cannot use reasoning to make your decisions. ...

• Word Count: 1628
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

There has never been a valid argument establishing God as the 'First Cause' according to David Hume (Titus and Smith, 344). ... Remaining always the skeptic, Hume's argument stops short of claiming that God does not exist, which would be atheism. ... Hume continued by asserting that literature had much to do with public perception of God and of His existence. ... Aquinas' argument, an admirable model of deductive reasoning, is lacking in scientific validity. ... Many take comfort in the belief that there is one Creator who still exists in the universe, a perfect being who w...

• Word Count: 1369
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• Has Bibliography

Hume, David (1711 1776) Hume was the main philosopher to start a controversy regarding the validity of the origination of all general scientific knowledge. ... Hume argues that causation is only based on belief originating from human intuition or induction, having no logical reasoning or certainty backing the theory. Another inductive weakness Hume talks about is the fact that it is not at all possible to prove human moral beliefs. ... There is one type of inductive reasoning that is flawlessly correct and never wrong; this is known as Aristotle'ssyllogism?. ... For this reason, th...

• Word Count: 1914
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• Grade Level: High School

Traditional Christian beliefs concerning suicide appear to have become solidified much later than the final edit of the Christian scriptures. ... David Hume approaches the question of suicide from the standpoint of duty. ... Much of Hume's argument focuses on Number 4. ... Hume's first point is probably the one that could most easily be attacked. ... Man is a reasoning be...

• Word Count: 2173
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• Grade Level: High School

Wolf states that individual duty to follow his/her moral reasoning conflicts with authority right to determine what the individual shall do. ... Smilla's beliefs, in Wolf's view justify her actions. ... While in the process of searching for the reasoning behind Isaiah's murder Smilla was faced with many different choices and moral dilemmas. ... Hume believes that our moral beliefs arise from our passions or feelings, as these are refined and developed through our own experience of the world and others and through social customs and conventions. ... Hume thought that imaginat...

• Word Count: 2294
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• Grade Level: High School

It is beliefs based on other beliefs, but on the bottom is a firm foundation of belief. ... If youre careful with your senses and reasoning, you can justify science. ... He is a skeptic about the existence of the external world, causation and inductive reasoning. ... By understanding the world through cause and effect you generate hypotheses (Hume p.269). ... However, in order to do this reasoning we are assuming that nature is uniform. ...

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• Grade Level: High School

Dream:" A brilliant piece of reasoning! ... Reflection is when we turn our mind on itself and receive ideas as thought, belief, doubt and will. 3. ... Finally, Hume provided a critique of skepticism in An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Hume differentiates between two types of skepticism: antecedent and consequent skepticism. ... In conclusion, Hume believes that reasoning about facts is only supported by experience and there are no proofs of its existence and non-existence on a substance. ...

• Word Count: 2135
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Empiricists used deductive reasoning putting greater emphasis on the inductive method. These different beliefs bread different conclusions about the mind, about the external world, and about God. ... Spinoza had a very different belief of God, unlike the beliefs of philosophers before him. ... One of the many people that would have a problem with Spinoza's philosophy, would be Hume, a known Empiricist. According to Hume's analysis of our belief in cause-effect relationships, we can have no knowledge of God. ...

• Word Count: 837
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• Grade Level: High School

The cosmological argument, or the first cause argument, centers around the belief that the universe had a first cause. ... The word cosmos refers to the universe as a well ordered system, a belief this argument rests upon. ... The rejection of actual infinities is based upon the reasoning that there have been none discovered in the physical universe and their complex properties make then almost inconceivable. ... Hume went further to say that even if there was a beginning it did not mean there had to be a cause., Hume argued that it is possible to imagine something coming into beginning withou...

• Word Count: 1502
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Belief in an afterlife is based on blind faith and unidentified phenomena. ... How we define knowledge is key to what we can call a justified true belief. ... David Hume wrote, "...when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, with what assurance can we decide concerning to the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?... David Hume wrote, "...nor is it conceivable, that any human creature could ever seriously believe, that all characters and actions were alike entitled to the affection and regard of everyone.... This is called circular reasoning....

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According to David Hume, the answer to this question is no. ... He states that we all believe that the sun will rise tomorrow morning and then asks, "Is this belief a mere blind outcome of past experience, or can it be justified as a reasonable belief?...... "Logic is the study of reasoning, of arguments bridging premises to a conclusion. ... "Deductive knowledge does not get very far is reasoning about matters of fact. ... Popper elaborates on Hume's theory by introducing an example to illustrate it. ...

• Word Count: 1691
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Hume looks at how our casual reasoning is based upon the impressions we have of our world. ... Hume also makes an example of eggs. ... That is known as casual reasoning. There is one exception to Hume's rule. ... He is reasoning from existence no toward existence. ...

• Word Count: 4182
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• Grade Level: High School

In the world today the United States is starting to up hold its own morals upon the world, even though the rest of the world does not necessarily have the same moral beliefs. ... One can find my reasoning in the fourth paragraph of the article, "the French penal law is applicable to all offenses committed by a French citizen "within or without" French territory." ... The question that arises in Plato's Euthyphro is should people be immune from popular moral belief if they do something that is good and also bad, such as murdering a murderer. ... Hume's moral sentiment theory is that e...

• Word Count: 1271
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• Grade Level: High School

David Hume once described the question of free will as "the most contentious question of metaphysics, the most contentious science" (Hume 1748: 95). ... The main differing of reasoning is the definition of the word 'free', in which compatibilists suggest that being free is not being constrained psychologically or physically. ...

• Word Count: 1943
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Now Natural Theology is our knowledge of God that one ascertains through natural reasoning, or reasoning that is unaided by special revelations. ... Another problem with the Ontological Argument is the belief that existence is a real predicate. ... The first disagreement against the Teleological Argument comes to us from David Hume, who actually lived 100 years before William Paley. Hume looked at the idea that the universe is completely like the human designed objects being utilized in this type of argument. ... Second, Hume indicates that we need to compare this universe to another to see if...

• Word Count: 4014
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• Grade Level: High School

Of those three arguments the Cosmology theory seems to take the better of the other two arguments to give it the strongest line of reasoning and understanding. ... This line of reasoning however offers a very weak stance on the all-important question of the existence of God. ... David Hume adequately states why this is the circumstance when he said, "From watching a hair grow, can we infer how people grow?" ... Applying this insight to God's existence we see that all the reasoning in the world cannot give us a better understanding of God's goodness if we have never experienced ...

• Word Count: 2432
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School