Hume's Philosophy: Understanding Human Knowledge

Hume: Treatise on Human Nature and Human Understanding

*Treatise on Human Nature* as the "Newton of Moral Science"

Treatise on Human Nature is considered as the "Newton of Moral Science." It intends to apply the Newtonian method to moral issues, i.e., the science of man. It aims to unify all the sciences to examine and understand the extent of the forces of human agency and explain the nature of ideas and arguments. From the empirical standpoint, the most important work is the laws of association of ideas.

*An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding*

In *An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding*, Hume abandons the idea of creating a science of man and leaves the Newtonian method. He focuses on an analysis of human understanding and has a strong character, trying to make a critical distinction between questions of fact and relations of ideas. Hume then appears as an enlightened philosopher, using a descriptive method.

Hume's Philosophy: Key Concepts

Empiricism and the Origin of Thought

Human knowledge is based on empiricism. All the materials of thought arise from internal or external perception. Reason cannot generate by itself a general idea.

• Principle of Immanence: Nothing can be present in the mind but an image or perception. The senses function as a conduit between the mind and the object.
• Copy Principle: All ideas are copies of our impressions. What we think has been previously seen by the senses, whether internal or external.
• Principle of Association of Ideas: Ideas are about a related attraction, by resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect.
• Negation of the Principle of General Ideas: Associated with particular ideas is a general term.

Matters of Fact and Relations of Ideas

• Relations of Ideas: Belong to geometry. All information that is intuitively or demonstratively certain.
• Matters of Fact: The only questions relate to demonstrably provable arguments.

The Problem of Reality and Causality

All arguments seem based on the relationship between cause and effect. Causes and effects cannot be discovered by reason but by experience. Experience is based on the similarity of natural objects, which leads us to expect similar effects from those objects. Practice leads us to belief. We have no rational certainty about matters of fact but only belief.