British Empiricism: Principles and David Hume's Philosophy

Empiricism: A British Philosophical Tradition

Empiricism, a prominent British philosophical thought stream, flourished from the 16th to the 17th century. It emphasizes the supremacy of experience over reason in the acquisition of knowledge.

Key Empiricist Thinkers

• Thomas Hobbes (author of Leviathan)
• John Locke (proponent of the "blank slate" or tabula rasa)
• George Berkeley (known for "Esse est percipi" – To be is to be perceived)
• David Hume (often referred to as "the enlightened" or "the skeptic")

Core Characteristics of Empiricism

1. Origin of Knowledge: Empiricists assert that all knowledge originates from experience, which is acquired through our senses. While they do not deny the existence of reason, unlike Descartes, they deny its omnipotence.
2. Rejection of Innate Ideas: Empiricists deny the existence of innate ideas, positing that the human mind is born as a blank slate. All our knowledge is acquired from experience, and sensory experience draws simple ideas into our minds. Our knowledge is built by these simple ideas, and the mind associates them according to simple laws (e.g., cause-effect, spatial-temporal contiguity, and similarity).
3. Scientific Method: Empiricism emerged alongside the birth of modern science and advocates for an experimental scientific model. For an empiricist, the inductive method is considered the most reliable scientific approach, favored over the deductive method.
4. Study of Human Knowledge: Similar to Descartes, empiricists held a strong interest in the study of human knowledge. They are often considered the founders of psychology.
5. Impossibility of Metaphysics: Empiricists claim that metaphysics is impossible, viewing it as a misuse or abuse of human reason.

David Hume: Skepticism and the Limits of Knowledge

David Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish moral philosopher, sought to reduce philosophy to the realm of sensory experience. His central obsession was to study the possibilities and limits of human knowledge, aiming to determine if any certain knowledge exists.

Hume's Criterion of Truth: The Copy Principle

The empiricist criterion of truth, for Hume, is based on the Copy Principle. This principle states that for an idea to be valid, it must correspond to a prior impression. In other words, an idea must be a replica of an impression derived directly from experience.

Hume on Causality

Hume observed that humans, particularly in science, have a mania or obsession to explain all events through a cause-effect relationship. However, Hume argued that the belief in a necessary connection between cause and effect is not derived from experience but is, in fact, a fiction – a false assumption.

He provided examples such as a billiard ball striking another, a firecracker exploding, or milk boiling. We observe constant conjunction, but never the necessary connection itself.

Conclusion on the Principle of Causality:

1. It is not a law of reality or of things in the world.
2. It is a law of our mind, a product of our psychological makeup.
3. We form this belief through habit or custom. Although it is a fiction, Hume acknowledged its practical utility in daily life.