David Hume (1711-1776) “The Wrecking Ball”

Hume’s Work A Treatise of Human Nature (1739-49) An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)

In Context… The Enlightenment (late17th-late 18th Century) REASON The significance of Newton

Empiricism Regards observation as the only reliable source of knowledge Sense perception is the only reliable method for gaining knowledge and for testing claims to knowledge

British Empiricism Francis Bacon (1561-1626) John Locke (1632-1704) “Tabula Rasa” George Berkeley (1685-1754) Characteristics Anti-Cartesian NOT metaphysical Purely epistemological Two questions: How do you know? What are the limits of knowledge?

Hume: “WE HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE” We only have PERCEPTIONS (beliefs which we feel are true) IMPRESSIONS: immediate sensations Simple and complex IDEAS: copies of impressions No impression = No idea

All we know are properties We don’t know that an apple exists; we just know its properties Round Red Tasty Try to imagine something that has no properties YOU CAN’T! We can’t know objects, only their properies This is called Bundle Theory

The Problem with Causality We can never know cause We can only know custom or habit

Hume’s Conclusions Reason can never discover the nature, purpose, or plan of the world. We have no knowledge of the material world. We can never know causes and effects in the material world. Metaphysics is a pointless pursuit

Hume introduces Phenomenalism The view that we have no rational knowledge beyond what is disclosed in the phenomena of perceptions. Mind is therefore a merely a collection of perceptions.