DAVID HUME. (continued)
In other words, Hume turns Plato's 'theory of ideas' around. Instead of things being the reflection of ideas, ideas constitute images of the impressions we get from things.
Consequently:
- There are no ideas or thoughts which haven't had a previous impression.
- Everything in reality is due to the relationship which binds impressions and ideas together (skepticism).
- There are no abstract ideas; there are only specific ideas taken as a sign of other similar ideas (HABIT).
For Hume, all knowledge depends of these 'connections between ideas'. These connections, according to the classical point of view held by the majority of philosophers, can be classified in 3 groups:
In regards to the first 2 connections between ideas (similarity and continuity), Hume agrees that these produce the so-called 'scientific certainty', but he doesn't believe it is a certainty based in the principle of contradiction, as assumed by Leibniz ; they are just, as we have mentioned previously, connections between ideas which respond to matters of fact.
Actually, Hume states differences between matters of fact and relations of ideas. This difference is similar to that established by Leibniz between ‘truths of reason’ and ‘truths of fact’, but with a slightly different interpretation. For example, to say that 'gold is yellow' or 'hydrogen weights less than air' means establishing matters of fact (contingent, probable, based in experience). On the other hand, stating that 'the sum of 5 plus 4 is 9' or 'the sum of the three angles in a triangle equal 2 right angles' is to establish the relationship between ideas (necessary, certain, based in non-contradiction).
These last, according to Hume, only work with mathematics; other topics can only be explained as ‘matters of fact’.
In the case of ‘coincidence’, also used in this context, Hume points out:
- A relationship between cause and effect can never be known as ‘a priori’ (= prior to experience), only through experience.
- Cause and effect are two very different facts; one doesn't necessarily surpass the other.
- Experience will not teach us more than the facts we have learned in the past, and there is nothing on future facts.
- The need of a relationship between cause and effect is purely objective and it must be found in a principle of human nature:‘HABIT’.
Here, we see one of the key concepts of Hume: ‘habit‘. He defines it as follows:
HABIT = Disposition which the repetition of any act produces upon the mind for the renewal of the same act, without any intervention from reasoning.
According to Hume, every BELIEF in reality or facts, in terms of a result of a fact, is a feeling or an instinct, not an act of reason.
Generally, these ‘beliefs’, when applied to the empirical world which surrounds us, can be reduced to two main ones:
- The belief of continued and independent existence of things
Usually, it can be distinguished between:
- PERCEPTIONS (subjective, changeable, interrupted)
- THINGS (objective, extensive, continuously existing)
For Hume, this distinction is an unsustainable philosophical hypothesis, since it is not necessary, neither is reason, nor imagination. In this regard, he agrees with Berkeley.
- The belief in the unit and ones identity.
