Hume Empiricism: Impressions, Ideas and Causality Explained
Classified in Geology
Written on in 
English with a size of 2.26 KB
Knowledge and Perceptions in Hume's Philosophy
Knowledge consists of perceptions, which are divided into two main types:
- Impressions: Immediate acts of sensory experience. Sensation relates to the exterior world, while reflection relates to the internal world.
- Ideas: Copies of impressions, which are weaker and appear in a different temporal order.
Characteristics of Ideas
Ideas are not innate. They are not obtained through abstraction, nor are they archetypes, exemplars, universals, or ways of thinking. Imagination produces complex ideas by grouping simple impressions and ideas together.
Laws of Association of Ideas
- Similarity: Ideas are grouped by virtue of likeness or identity.
- Contiguity in Space and Time: Establishing a relation between ideas based on their spatial and temporal proximity.
- Causality: The relation between cause and effect.
Types of Knowledge
Knowledge is classified into two distinct types:
1. Relations of Ideas
Based on the principle of non-contradiction, these form analytical propositions where certainty is possible.
2. Matters of Fact
Composed of data and propositions that refer to facts. Truth is subjected to experience, constituting empirical sciences.
The Problem with the Method
Hume dismisses the validity of the deductive method because rationalists rely on innate ideas, which he rejects. He rejects the inductive method as well.
Critique of Causality
Everything that exists must have a beginning. Causality is neither a relation of ideas nor a matter of fact. The principle of causality is indemonstrable, and necessity cannot be deduced from prior events.
Customs and Beliefs
Much of what we consider knowledge is actually belief, operating on two distinct levels:
- Ontological Plan (Plane of Being): Dismisses causality.
- Gnoseological Plan (Plane of Knowledge): Admits causality as working like a habit or habitual way of thinking about things.
The Substance
Substance is viewed as a dynamic combination of the mind and impressions.