Hume’s Treatise on Human Nature: Empiricism and Causality
Hume’s Treatise on Human Nature: Book One Summary
This text analyzes the principle of causality, which Hume denies. It delves into epistemology, basing human knowledge on the origin of ideas. Hume advocates for a radical empiricism, asserting that true ideas originate from sensory experience. He argues that all material is formed by perceptions, the mind’s basic elements of knowledge.
Perceptions: Impressions and Ideas
- Impressions: Primary, sensitive elements.
- Feelings: From external experience.
- Impressions of Reflection: Passions from internal experience.
- Ideas: Mental elements formed from impressions, representations archived in the psyche.
- Imagination and memory are key powers for actualizing ideas.
Hume posits that only ideas referring to sense impressions provide knowledge of reality.
Association of Ideas and Newtonian Model
Hume applies the Newtonian model to the association of ideas, viewing the psyche as dynamic and regulated by a physical law. The unifying associative principle, a psychological one, explains how ideas connect. This connection is based on three qualities:
- Resemblance
- Contiguity
- Cause and effect
This mental command connects the subject to external objects.
Abstract Ideas and Mathematical Sciences
Abstract ideas, essential to mathematical sciences, are reduced to relations of similarity, identity, time/space, and quantity. Geometry, algebra, and arithmetic deal with abstract ideas.
Empiricism and Causality
Hume, an empiricist, argues that rationale must be based on experience. Our understanding of cause and effect is based on repeated experience, not rational justification. We assume a cause-and-effect relationship, but this is based on certainty rather than proof. Hume concludes that the principle of causality is not objective; imagination connects cause and effect. This leads to his position of moderate skeptical phenomenalism: only probable inferences about events are possible.
Metaphysics, Self, and God
Hume dismisses metaphysics as knowledge, considering the idea of substance a fiction. He rejects the concepts of self (soul) and God as not representing reality. The ego is a subjective invention, and arguments for God rely on the flawed principle of causality. He also criticizes the universal validity of physics.
Morality and Politics
Hume argues that morality is based on feeling, not reason. Reason cannot motivate actions; ethics cannot be based on demonstration. Moral distinctions derive from a moral sense. He denounces the naturalistic fallacy, separating ‘being’ from ‘ought.’ Morality comes from passion, not intellect. Politically, Hume advocates for a free government serving the public interest.