Preview

Hume And Constancy Essay

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1174 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hume And Constancy Essay
What importance does Hume place on the notions of coherence and constancy?
How do they fit into his overall argument?

As a means of fully understanding the argument brought forward by Hume’s, one must understand certain key words used. According to Merriam Webster dictionary online coherence can be defined as “logically or aesthetically ordered or integrated, having clarity or intelligibility, having the quality of holding together”; and constancy is “the quality of staying the same : lack of change, the quality of being loyal to a person or belief, steadfastness of mind under duress”. Constance and coherence are biological dispositions, wired into the very fabric of our mind. The mechanism of constancy and coherence, as described by Hume …show more content…
I agree with Hume when he presented the idea of out constancy and coherence exist but I am yet to understand the term external world. I do believe however, that Hume made some very irrational assumptions when he said that the imagination is flawed. I believe that humans ability to imagine is one of the main contributor to human’s survival for many centuries. Hume states our imagination is faulty, breaks and combines idea, thus forming new ones. This now leads me to ask the question what exactly leads our imagination. Is our imagination lead by association, by contiguity, by resemblance or even by Illusion? If I cannot presently answer these questions then all the things I thought I truly knew and understood I do not anymore. Are most of the concepts and subject matter that once governed my behave could all be a fabrication of my imagination. As I reflect on the writing presented to me by Hume I think back to the question that we had once spoken about during class regarding what is your “true Self’? Hume study does help me to understand a lot about things we never rationally observed throughout our lives before. I can say that most of Hume’s writings are philosophically unjustified for he believed that he gave an accurate account of how humans arrive at the idea of
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    David Hume's Powerful Ideas: An Analysis
    • 120 Words
    • 1 Page

    David Hume's Powerful Ideas: An Analysis

    In Powerful Ideas, An Introduction to Philosophy, aesthetics means "coming from the senses" which is a derivitive of the Greek word, aisthetikos (241). David Hume's believed that emotions are significant in both aesthetics and ethics. In addition, he stated that aesthetics involves both contemplation and judgment. He strongly believes that not everyone is suitable or qualify to judge art.…

    • 120 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mackie's Argument Of David Hume On Miracles
    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mackie's Argument Of David Hume On Miracles

    To discuss the argument of Hume on miracles, Mackie says we must first develop definitions of laws and miracles that does not automatically mean that the concept of a miracle is incoherent or is logically impossible the miracle occurs. ~ Mackie notes that if we define a miracle as a violation of a law of nature and set a law to be a pattern of how the world works, then it is impossible that the miracle occurs. These definitions imply that the bill violated the miracle was not really a law, because it is an exception; eZeentis thus not a miracle, because it does not violate any law. But that argument Hume and Mackie said that to dis- cuss Hume's argument we need different definitions of laws and miracles. We need an account of the laws and miracles…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    David Hume's Version Of Empiricism
    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    David Hume's Version Of Empiricism

    Hume’s version of empiricism begins with his distinction between analytic propositions “relationship of ideas,” which he considers to be a priori and true by definition, and synthetic propositions, which he considers to be a posteriori (“matters of fact”), and which are opposite of analytic propositions because they’re derived from our senses.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Necessity In David Hume's Definition Of Determinism
    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Necessity In David Hume's Definition Of Determinism

    Determinism is defined as “the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will. ”, there have been many cases where philosophers determine that determinism implies that beings that have no free will, cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. David Hume’s definition of necessity is similar to the definition of determinism because it shows that what is necessity is constant or always necessary, plainly put his definition states that necessity is the “constant conjunction of objects and the inference of the mind from one object to the other“ William James thought was that his will was free so he was considered a indeterminism. James believed that each being held moral responsibility…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    David Hume's Time: The Nature Of Morality
    • 216 Words
    • 1 Page

    David Hume's Time: The Nature Of Morality

    Back in Hume’s time, there were mainly three schools of thought regarding the nature of morality. This debate was initiated by Thomas Hobbes’ view that moral obligations and duties came from self-regarding motives. In response to Thomas Hobbes’ argument, there are two schools of thought, namely rationalism and sentimentalism. Rationalists such as Samuel Clarke argued that morality could be explained by pure reason , and acting morally is just the same as acting rationally. Hume is on the side of the sentimentalists, as he rejects reason as the basis of morality . Hume argues, rather, that it is our moral sentiments that serve as the basis of moral approvals and disapprovals . In Hume’s picture, each action produces certain feelings in the recipients, be it pain or pleasure, and it is through sympathizing with the recipients which we have an impression of the resulting pain or pleasure in the recipients, and thus approve of or disapprove of the active person’s character trait which led to the action.…

    • 216 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    David Hume's Argument From Design
    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages

    David Hume's Argument From Design

    Hume does not think we can compare the creation of the universe to a creation of a car or the creator of the universe to the creator of a car. Hume continues to reject this claim by pointing out that the existence of natural evil and moral evil in the world make it very unlikely that God exists. Hume does not think that with all the natural disasters, threats, attacks, homicides etc. that there can be such a perfect being like God. If God is willing and able to prevent evil than why is there so much evil?…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Hume natural and artificial virtues
    • 1432 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hume natural and artificial virtues

    In discussing the principles from which we determine moral good or evil, virtue or vice, Hume argues that because the number of situations we may encounter is 'infinite' it would be absurd to imagine an 'original instinct' or individual principle for each possibility. (T3.1.2.6)1 Instead he suggests that, following the usual maxim of nature producing diversity from limited principles, we should look for more general principles.…

    • 1432 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Hume's Argument of Future Matters of Fact
    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Hume's Argument of Future Matters of Fact

    According to David Hume, statements concerning future matters of fact always require empirical support. It is impossible to have knowledge of such facts without grounded impressions, or experience. Hume declares that justification for claims of future matters of fact are inferred from cause and effect relationships rather than from tangible experience. Similarly, cause and effect relationships are recognized through experience. Human’s naturally reason inductively, or in other words, use experience to establish beliefs about things which have yet to be observed. Hume argues that through such assumptions, it is impossible and rather foolish to derive any reliable conclusions about the world based on inductive reasoning.…

    • 1628 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hume Liberty and Necessity
    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Hume Liberty and Necessity

    In Section 8 of Hume’s Enquiry titled “Of Liberty and Necessity”, Hume wants to discuss what liberty and necessity mean and whether or not they can be compatible with each other. This is all really a discussion of Hume’s view of free will and determinism, and how they can be easily reconciled through compatibilism where for example both liberty and necessity are required for morality. He starts off by considering the idea of necessity and defines it as, “the constant conjunction of similar objects, and the consequent inference from one to another” (Hume 150). He wants to talk about its relation to what he calls liberty. He defines his hypothetical liberty as, “A power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will” (Hume 159). This sounds like free will, meaning that people have the ability to act or not act in certain ways. He wants to deny any possibility of chance, because he’s an empiricist, and if you have the possibility of chance, what can you ever really know about the world. In every case, Hume is going to want to go out into the world and see where things come from even these ideas of liberty and necessity to see if there is a way to have both. To take it further, he goes on to claim that we’re all compatibilists without even realizing it. In order to explain his reasoning, he makes three arguments: the necessity argument, the spontaneity argument, and the anti-libertarianism argument.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    David Hume: A Famous Philosopher
    • 1897 Words
    • 8 Pages

    David Hume: A Famous Philosopher

    Hume is an Empiricist, this means that he believes that the source of a humans knowledge derives from or mostly from their sensory experiences. In short, people gain knowledge from their experiences. For example, children learn languages through constantly hearing someone (a parent or guardian) speaking to them in a certain language. Another example is that one can come to know what different colors are due to actually seeing the colors. Simply knowing the name of a color does not entail that someone knows what the color actually looks like. One can never fully come to know what a color is by simply being given the definition because in order to know what a color is, one must have a visual of the color to connect with the name. Thus according to Hume, a person learns and obtains knowledge through sensory…

    • 1897 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    David Hume The Origin Of Morality Essay
    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages

    David Hume The Origin Of Morality Essay

    Hume believes the root of morality is emotion. He believes emotions, or passions, as he calls them, are the driving force behind our actions. Hume believes that how we feel about things determines what we determine is moral or immoral. There is no logical reason for keeping one’s promises if there is no benefit to you. However, we as a people have decided that keeping one’s word is moral because we would like someone to do that for us. We keep our promises because we want people to think kindly of us. There is no logic behind it, but there is emotion. Even when there is nothing to be gained for us by keeping our promises, we still maintain its moral to keep them because of how it makes us feel. This means, even when it is illogical to do something, if we feel it is moral, we should do it. Reason is not enough to change how we behave. It can give us some direction but it cannot compel us to do…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The idea of god is incoherent
    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The idea of god is incoherent

    Hume then argues that ideas are ‘faint copies’ of impressions. Think what it is like to see…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    David Hume And The Cosmological Argumen
    • 437 Words
    • 1 Page

    David Hume And The Cosmological Argumen

    The second of Hume’s points is that the causal principle is doubtful. His evidence for this is that we can conceive of things without a cause therefore things without a cause are possible this is also backed up by Mackie who says that the causal principle has no evidence and only exists in a methodological sense. However this argument also has severe faults that discredit it. If the arguments from causality are questionable then that means that the arguments from conceivability are questionable as well. This could also mean that a logically necessary truth could be conceived as false if you don’t completely understand it. This opens the problem that just because something is logically possible then that doesn’t mean it could happen in the real world. This basically disables Hume’s ideas on non-causal…

    • 437 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    David Hume On Luxury And Generosity
    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages

    David Hume On Luxury And Generosity

    The pursuit of luxury is one that enhances the gratification of the senses; it is this refinement that can be innocent or vicious. According to Hume, the pursuit of innocent indulgence is permitted, but when they are pursued at the expense of some virtue they become a vice. Vicious luxury is a vice in the way it “engrosses all a man’s expenses and leaves no ability for such acts if duty and generosity as are required by his situation and fortune” (P. 279). The distinction between the two luxuries is the main argument of his constituents on why luxury is believed to be both immoral and corrupting within society. However, the distinction between the two is not as much of importance for Hume. As he believes that individuals are just inherently corrupt from within, and that commercial development is better off with innocent and vicious luxury than…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    John Locke And The Enlightenment
    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages

    John Locke And The Enlightenment

    John Locke was a philosopher and supporter of The Enlightenment whose philosophies served a crucial role in its formation, these ideologies fall into three major branches: epistemology, political philosophy, and religious toleration. The Enlightenment was a cultural movement that revolved around the use of reason and progress from the Scientific Revolution to address human problems. Epistemology supported inductive reasoning, a form of thinking in which one takes specific details and uses them to form reasonable and general statements. This form of reasoning differentiated The Enlightenment from The Scientific Revolution, which encouraged deductive reasoning instead. Locke’s theories on epistemology included the “Theory of mind” in which every…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics