David Hume is considered one of the greatest Western philosophers to ever live and was one of the most influential of the British empiricists. Perhaps Hume's biggest contributions to philosophy come from his first book "A Treatise of Human Nature". In the book, Hume introduces some of his most revolutionary and groundbreaking theories, and these theories help him define and explain how the human brain works.
In a "Treatise of Human Nature," Hume states that all complex ideas come from simpler ones, and these simple ideas are formed from impressions we receive through our senses. As a result, our ideas and experiences are not so different from those of others. Hume continues to explain that every idea we have can be traced back to a personal experience. The emphasis on experience shows that Hume is a true empiricist by putting such a strong emphasis on the senses. In Hume's first work he comes up with three tools that help explain his theories, these tools include the microscope, razor, and fork. I believe that these tools are some of Hume's greatest contributions because without them it would be incredibly difficult for us to understand what Hume is trying to prove. These tools help Hume explain his theories of the human mind in a way so that the average person can understand him. Let us take a closer look at Hume's three tools of philosophy. .
The first tool that Hume introduces is the microscope, this is theory that in order to fully understand an idea you must first break it down to its simplest form. This can be very useful when trying to understand advanced concepts, it shows that if you think about something in smaller perspectives it can be understood more easily. This concept is still widely used today by scientists when they encounter difficult problems or questions. The next tool is the one that I disagree the most with due to its theory of meaning.
