Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 37-53

These pages cover the Section 6 titled Of Probability. Hume says that there is no such thing as chance but that our ignorance of the real causes of events leads us to believe in chance. In Section 7, Part 1 titled Of the Idea of Necessary Connexion, Hume discusses Metaphysics and states that “no idea in metaphysics is more obscure and uncertain than those of force, power, energy, or necessary connexion, of which it is every moment necessary for us to treat in all our disquisitions." Hume says that all ideas and complex impressions are formed by simple impressions and that these no not automatically give us necessary connection. He looks at the mind and body and says that in this case we do not perceive by experiment or reason necessary connection. This concept is a little fuzzy for me but I can essential understand his meaning. Hume then discusses the mind-body interaction and explains that although we are aware our bodies move can’t really understand the connection of how the actual movement happens.  The relationship between these bodies is very complex for Hume and I can appreciate his ability to recognize such an issue. I’ve always found it fascinating how we can make our bodies move, but not actually think arm and hand type that sentence. Then we have mind-mind interaction, where we come up with our ideas and he can’t seem to find any connection and how we can just come up with something in our mind from nothing. I agree with his thoughts that experience plays a very important role in our ideas and how we begin to come up with certain thoughts and ideas. 

Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 20-37

Hume explains that matters of fact relationships come from sensory experience or from memory. He explains cannot be a source of my knowledge and that know matters of fact about unnoticed things through cause and effect. He then discusses how the principle of cause and effect works. Cause and effect are separate from each other. From experience in the past we infer what we will experience in the future. As humans we then base our awareness of future events on past experiences. To explain this situation Hume gives us "demonstrative reasoning," which is based on relations of ideas, and "moral reasoning," or matters of fact. This presents a problem of knowing the future based solely on the past and everything we experience will begin to resemble one-another. Hume shows we suppose instances between the past and future, but there is nothing to say that we can say that this is actually what will happen or prove that it is even possible.  So the main points of this section are that our knowledge from experience is based on the principle of cause and effect.  We find that the principal of cause and effect is in the nature of induction and this relies on the uniformity principle, which says the future will take after the past and we come to know this principal through our experiences.

Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 1-20

In section one of this works Hume lays out the framework for his project and gives us two types of Philosophy: Moral Philosophy versus the Science of Human Nature. In his explanation of the Moral Philosophy he gives is 2 types of man which concludes of the first to be the Easy and Obvious or born for action and is influenced by “taste and sentiment and pursing one object in avoiding another, according to the value by which these objects seem to possess, and according to light in which they present themselves.” (1)  This type philosophy works to support our behaviors by using examples from everyday life. This then shows us examples of vice and virtue.  For Hume this is the common sense approach to philosophy. Then there is the Abstruse or the contemplative also known as the spirit of accuracy or progress.  Rather than addressing our behaviors we are urged to better understand the principals that let us choose our own behavior rather than counting on our common senses. He says this category of man we consider man in the light of the reasonable rather than an active being. I think it means to critique this type of philosophy. I think the reason that Hume finds a problem with the Abstruse philosophy is that often times we can be flawed it use from the simple fact that it conflicts with our common sense which I think are a very important aspect of human nature for Hume. A disadvantage Hume discusses would be on how we free ourselves from superstition and obscurity. He finds a solution to this problem through his use of “mental geography” of the mind and its parts. He then gives us the classes of perceptions. Our Ideas, then Impressions, classifying them in 2 parts as our external and internal expressions followed but his description of its relationship and functions. Hume admits against accurate and abstract philosophy explaining that they are not sciences, but rather a confused attempt to explain by means of blind prejudice what we do not know. One thing we have to address is that Hume is inheriting John Locke ideas, that we are a “tabula rosa” and Hume’s explanation between impressions and ideas clears up some misunderstandings found in Locke's rejection of innate ideas. Hume complains that Locke fails to clarify what he means either by "innate" or "idea."  For Hume impressions are innate and ideas are not. Hume then discusses the links that between ideas, asserting that all ideas are linked to other ideas. Hume then discusses in the next section the relationship between "relations of ideas" and "matters of fact” and cause and effect relationships. All sciences of Geometry, Algebra, and Arithmetic which house all logically true statements such as "5 + 7 = 12" and "all bachelors are unmarried" are relations of ideas. Matters of fact deal with experience: that the sun is shining, I went to class today, we have a term paper due are all matters of fact.