Hume

Hume's shtick was with Cause and Effect.  He believed that we could never prove that Cause and Effect exists and wonders why we infer it constantly.  Hume thought that Custom played a big part in our lives.  Custom attaches sentiments to ideas... these sentiments trick us into believing that cause and effect actually exist.

The Mind and its Relations

  •  What is the Furniture of the Mind
  •  Complex vs Simple Ideas
  •  What is an Object?
  •  Associations of Ideas
  •  Matters of Fact vs Relations of Ideas

    • What is Cause and Effect?

  •  Why Isn't there Cause?
  •  What we think is Cause
  •  Constant Conjunction and Cause
  •  Imagination, Custom and Sentiments
  •  3 Definitions of Cause
  •  Belief vs Fiction
  •  What is the World?
  •  Is 1 the same as Many?

    • The Three Humes

  •  The Three Humes
  •  The External World
  •  What are Miracles?
  •  Summary of Hume

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    The Mind and Its Relations

    What is the Furniture of the Mind?

    - Ideas (Faded Impressions)
    - Manners
    - Impressions (Sharper and more vivid than Ideas)
    - Modes (Generalizations)

    Complex vs Simple Ideas

    Simple Ideas Complex Ideas
    Copies of Simple Impressions Generally not Copies
    Received from the senses. Generally Memories or Imaginings
    Can be nonsense, but their parts are real.

    What is an Object?

    - A bundle of Perceptions

    Three Types of Associations of Ideas

    How can ideas be associated?

    - Resemblance
    - Cause and Effect
    - Contiguity

    Matters of Fact vs Relations of Ideas

    Matter of Fact Relations of Ideas
    Without Principle of Sufficient Reason, these become Relations of Ideas  The 3 Associations of Ideas
    Custom holds these together
    Contingent Truths Analytic Truths
    Memories are NOT Matters of Fact, but they can be about matters of Fact
    Vivid, Lively, Forcible, Firm, Steady
    Have a Sentiment attached to them

    What is Cause and Effect?

    Why isn't there Cause?

    What we Think to be Causality

    There is no such thing as cause and effect.  We mistake these things for cause....

    - Temporal Priority
    - Spatial Contiguity
    - Regular Succession
    - Constant Conjunction

    Constant Conjunction and Cause

    We are faced with constant conjunction in the world.  (1 thing always happens with another thing).
    We always see Event1, Event2, Event3, Event4, Event5.
    From that, we assume than Event1 causes Event5 (because Event1 is constantly conjoined with Event2 and Event2 is constantly conjoined with Event3, etc.)

    There is no Conclusive Evidence for Cause and Effect.  It is possible, but not probable.  All we know is that events are constantly conjoined.

    Causation is the Constant Conjunction of ideas established and maintained by Custom.

    Imagination, Custom and Sentiments

    Three Definitions of Cause

    1. An Object followed by another.  All objects similar to the first are followed by objects similar to the 2nd.
    2. An object such that had it not been, its effect would have never existed.  (Custom makes us go to the idea of the 'effect' from the idea of 'cause').
    3. An object followed by another whose appearance always conveys 1 thought to the other.
    All three definitions have in common that Cause and Effect is just 1 damn thing after another.

    Belief vs Fiction

    Q: Imagination is a great rearranger of ideas, so how do we separate beliefs from fictions?
    A: There is a sentiment that is attached to beliefs.  Custom attaches this sentiment to beliefs, but not to fictitious ideas.

    We can choose beliefs, but we cannot choose the sentiment that custom attaches to them.

    What is the World?

    No Built Up Effects

    Hume: There is nothing in the many instances that isn't in the individual instance.....
    But:  What about Weight Lifting?  Why is the 50th arm curl different than the 1st?  Is Hume wrong?  Is there a built up Effect?

    The Three Humes

    The Three Humes

    Defining the 3 Humes...
    Metaphysical Hume: We only can trust what can be established via impressions. 
    Phenomenal Hume: We can make legitimate inferences without their proof. 
    Spooky Hume: Atomist/Materialist.  We can trust what is beyond our senses. 

    What is Cause and Effect?

    Metaphysical Hume: The world is just one damn thing after another and there is no Cause and Effect.
    Phenomenal Hume: Practical Hume.... we can infer Cause and Effect even thought we are unable to prove that Cause and Effect exists.
    Spooky Hume: Cause and Effect Exists, but we will never sense it.

    What is the External World?

    Metaphysical Hume: There is no External World.  We have no knowledge of it.
    Phenomenal Hume: There is an External World.  Whatever we don't know about the external world, we use imagination to fill in the blanks to make life simple and practical.
    Spooky Hume: There is an External World, but we will never sense it.

    Hume and the External World

    The Mean Kinetic Energy is heat, but we don't talk that way.  We simplify MKE to heat to make life practical.  The same thing applies to the external world...  We assume the physical world because it makes life and communication practical.

    What are Miracles?

    1. A Miracle is a violation of a law of nature.
    2. A known miracle must break a known law of nature.
    3. Law of Nature is a regularity established by extensive, uniform experience.  It has the highest degree of probability.
    4. A miracle can be accepted only if human testimony allegedly purportedly supporting it is such that its denial would be even more miraculous.
    5. There ain't no, Bubba, miracles!

    Summary of Hume:

    1. Every Idea is a copy of an impression or belief.
    2. No impression = No idea
    3. Single instances of succession don't imply necessary connection.
    4. Multiple uniform instances lead us to entertain the notion of connection.
    5. We feel a new sentiment (a customary connection) which is the source of our idea of Necessary Connection.
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