David Hume: Empiricism, Knowledge, and Ethics
Hume is the most important figure of 18th-century philosophy, specifically empiricism, a reaction to 17th-century rationalism. Unlike medieval philosophy, Hume focused on the human mind rather than God. Empiricists argue that all knowledge comes from sense experience, not innate ideas.
Hume asserted that all sciences relate to human nature and are judged by human capabilities. He adopted Newton’s method for the science of man.
All knowledge begins with perception, divided into impressions (immediate data) and ideas (copies of impressions). Ideas originate from impressions. Both can be simple or complex, and related to thought or feeling. The mind processes impressions through memory and imagination. Memory preserves the original order, while imagination is free to alter ideas.
The association of ideas arises from resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. We easily associate similar ideas and those close in space. Cause and effect is a strong association, perceived as a necessary connection.
Hume identified two types of knowledge: relations of ideas (mathematics, geometry, etc., reached through reasoning) and relations of events (dependent on experience).
According to Hume, an idea is true if it derives from an impression. Our knowledge is limited to impressions. We assume future events based on cause-effect relationships. However, we only observe a constant succession between events, not a necessary connection. Our certainty about future events comes from experience and habit, making such knowledge probable, not certain.
For Hume, substance is a collection of perceptions found together. Reality is limited to our impressions. Since we have no impression of God, we cannot affirm God’s existence. Hume’s philosophy leads to phenomenalism and skepticism; we know we have impressions but not their origin.
Ethics provides principles to judge actions as good or bad. Unlike the Greeks, who based moral judgments on reason, Hume grounded ethics in feeling. His emotivist ethics posits that moral judgments stem from feelings, which drive our actions. The moral sense provides feelings of approval or disapproval.
According to Hume, an idea is true if it derives from an impression. Our knowledge is limited to impressions. We assume future events based on cause-effect relationships. However, we only observe a constant succession between events, not a necessary connection. Our certainty about future events comes from experience and habit, making such knowledge probable, not certain.
For Hume, substance is a collection of perceptions found together. Reality is limited to our impressions. Since we do not have any impression of God, we cannot affirm God’s existence. Hume’s philosophy leads to phenomenalism and skepticism; we know we have impressions but not their origin.
Ethics provides principles to judge actions as good or bad. Unlike the Greeks, who based moral judgments on reason, Hume grounded ethics in feeling. His emotivist ethics posits that moral judgments stem from feelings, which drive our actions. The moral sense provides feelings of approval or disapproval.