An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume (a book to read .txt) 📕

general laws, 107;

to argue from effects to unknown causes, and then from these causes

to unknown effects, is a gross sophism, 108.

From imperfect exercise of justice in this world we cannot infer its

perfect exercise in a future world, 109;

we must regulate our conduct solely by the experienced train of

events, 110;

in case of human works of art we can infer the perfect from the

imperfect, but that is because we know man by experience and

also know other instances of his art, 111-112;

but in the case of God we only know him by his productions, and do

not know any class of beings to which he belongs, 113;

and the universe, his production, is entirely singular and does not

belong to a known species of things, 115.

Punishment

requires doctrines of necessity and liberty, 76 (v. Necessity).

Pyrrhonism

Qualities

primary and secondary, 122.

Quantity

and number, the only objects of demonstration, the parts of them

being entirely similar, 131.

Real

presence, 86.

Reality

and thought, 44.

Realism

of the vulgar, 118.

Reason

(a) opp. intuition, 29;

opp. experience, 28, 36 n.

(b) Corrects sympathy and senses, 117.

No match for nature, 34.

Fallacious, compared with instinct, 45.

Of men and animals, 84 n.

(c) attempts to destroy, by reasoning, 124;

objections to abstract reasoning, 124 f. (v. Scepticism).

(d) Reasoning.

Two kinds of, demonstrative and moral, 30, 46 n, 132;

moral, divided into general and particular, 132;

produces demonstrations, proofs, and probabilities, 46 n.

Probable (v. Cause, 28-32).

Relations

of ideas, discoverable by the mere operation of thought,

independently of the existence of any object, 20.

Religion

a kind of philosophy, 113 (v. Miracles, Providence).

Resemblance

19, 41 (v. Similarity).

Resistance

and idea of power, 53 n.

Scepticism

A. antecedent to study and philosophy, such as Descartes’ universal

doubt of our faculties, would be incurable: in a more

moderate sense it is useful, 116 (cf. 129-30);

extravagant attempts of, to destroy reason by reasoning, 124.

No such absurd creature as a man who has no opinion about anything

at all, 116;

admits of no answer and produces no conviction, 122 n. (cf. 34, 126,

128).

B. As to the Senses, 117-123.

The ordinary criticisms of our senses only show that they have to be

corrected by Reason, 117;

more profound arguments show that the vulgar belief in external

objects is baseless, and that the objects we see are nothing

but perceptions which are fleeting copies of other

existences, 118;

even this philosophy is hard to justify; it appeals neither to

natural instinct, nor to experience, for experience tells

nothing of objects which perceptions resemble, 119;

the appeal to the veracity of God is useless, 120;

and scepticism is here triumphant, 121.

The distinction between primary and secondary qualities is useless,

for the supposed primary qualities are only perceptions, 122;

and Berkeley’s theory that ideas of primary qualities are obtained by

abstraction is impossible, 122, 122 n;

if matter is deprived of both primary and secondary qualities there

is nothing left except a mere something which is not worth

arguing about, 123.

C. As to Reason, 124-130.

Attempt to destroy Reason by reasoning extravagant, 124;

objection to abstract reasoning because it asserts infinite

divisibility of extension which is shocking to common sense,

124,

and infinite divisibility of time, 125;

yet the ideas attacked are so clear and distinct that scepticism

becomes sceptical about itself, 125.

Popular objections to moral reasoning about matter of fact, based

on weakness of understanding, variation of judgement, and

disagreement among men, confuted by action, 126;

philosophical objections, that we only experience conjunction and

that inference is based on custom, 127;

excessive scepticism refuted by its uselessness and put to flight by

the most trivial event in life, 128.

Mitigated scepticism or academical philosophy useful as a corrective

and as producing caution and modesty, 129;

and as limiting understanding to proper objects, 130;

all reasoning which is not either abstract, about quantity and

number, or experimental, about matters of fact, is sophistry

and illusion, 132.

D. In Religion (v. Miracles, Providence).

Sciences

132 (v. Reason, (d); Scepticism, C).

Secret

powers, 39;

counteracting causes, 47, 67.

Senses

outward and inward sensation supplies all the materials of

thinking—must be corrected by reason, 117.

Scepticism concerning, 117 (v. Scepticism, B).

Similarity

basis of all arguments from experience, 31 (cf. 115).

Solidity

50;

a supposed primary quality, 122.

Soul

and body, 52.

Space

and time, 124 f.

Species

an effect which belongs to no species does not admit of inference

to its cause, 115 (cf. 113).

Stoics

34, 79.

Superstition

6 (v. Providence).

Theology

science of, 132 (v. God, Providence).

Tillotson

argument against real presence, 86.

Time

and space, 124 f.

Truth

8, 17 (v. Scepticism).

Understanding

limits of human, 7;

operations of, to be classified, 8;

opp. experience, 28;

weakness of, 126 (v. Reason, Scepticism).

Voluntariness

as ground of distinction between virtues and talents, 130.

Whole

theory that everything is good as regards ‘the whole,’ 79, 80.

Will

compounds materials given by senses, 13;

influence of over organs of body can never give us the idea of

power; for we are not conscious of any power in our will,

only of sequence of motions on will, 52;

so with power of will over our minds in raising up new ideas, 53.

Of God, cannot be used to explain motion, 57.

Freedom of (v. Necessity).

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