Experience the world of philosophy
David Hume
A Short Presentation
Who was David Hume?
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Born: 1711 in Edinburgh, Scotland
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Died: 1776
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One of the most influential figures of the Scottish Enlightenment
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Philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist
Key Philosophical Ideas
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Empiricism:
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All knowledge comes from sensory experience
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Rejects innate ideas
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Skepticism:
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Doubts the certainty of causation, self, and God
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Famously questioned whether we can ever truly know cause and effect
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The Problem of Induction:
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Just because the sun has risen every day doesn’t guarantee it will rise tomorrow
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Challenges our assumption that the future will resemble the past
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Theory of the Self:
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The self is a “bundle of perceptions”—no fixed, unchanging identity
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Morality and Sentiment:
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Moral judgments arise from feelings, not reason
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“Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions”
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Legacy
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Major influence on Immanuel Kant, modern psychology, ethics, and philosophy of science
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Still studied today for his radical challenges to certainty and rationalism
QUOTES
Section Title
Analysis of David Hume’s Problem of Induction
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Definition and Core Idea
The Problem of Induction, as posed by David Hume, questions the logical basis for assuming that the future will resemble the past. It highlights a gap in reasoning when we predict future events based solely on past experiences.
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Key Insight
Just because the sun has risen every day in the past does not logically guarantee that it will rise tomorrow.
Hume argues that our belief in cause and effect—such as expecting the sun to rise—is not grounded in reason, but in habit or custom. We see regularity in nature, grow accustomed to it, and begin to expect it. However, this expectation is not logically necessary.
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Underlying Assumptions Challenged
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Uniformity of Nature
We assume nature behaves consistently. Hume asks: Why?
→ There’s no rational proof that nature must remain uniform.
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Causal Inference
We believe event A causes event B because they always occur together.
→ But we only observe correlation, never a necessary connection.
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Why This Matters
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Science relies on induction: Observations → general laws → predictions.
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Hume’s problem reveals that such reasoning lacks certainty; it’s probable, not necessary.
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Consequences and Legacy
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Shakes the foundation of empirical science.
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Inspired later thinkers like:
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Immanuel Kant, who tried to resolve it by suggesting the mind imposes structure on experience.
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Karl Popper, who emphasized falsifiability over verification.
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Contemporary epistemology, which explores probabilistic reasoning and Bayesian inference as responses.
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Conclusion
Hume’s Problem of Induction is a powerful philosophical challenge:
We cannot rationally justify our confidence that what has always happened will continue to happen.
It forces us to acknowledge that certainty in science and daily life is often based not on logic, but on custom and psychological expectation.
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