Compare And Contrast Descartes And David Hume
Concerning Human Understanding, "Cogito Ergo Sum."
The human mind is a very intricate instrument. There have been many people that have attempted, and failed, to illuminate how the human mind functions. The pursuit for the solution to this question has led to the development of two schools of philosophy, rationalism and empiricism, dealing specifically with epistemology, or, the origin of knowledge. Two of the most famous philosophers of epistemology are rationalist Rene Descartes and empiricist David Hume. Rationalism is the idea that reason and logic are the foundation of knowledge. It states that awareness is instinctive, and that it cannot come from sources such as the senses. Rationalists theorize that people are all born with the foundations …show more content…
Hume, unlike Descartes, did not experience the requisite of Cartesian doubt. It would be counter intuitive for Hume an empiricist to doubt everything when according to The Origin of Ideas knowledge is built on perceptions. The theory contends that an idea is a duplication of a mental impression. Hume highlights that when a lively perception of love, hate, or desire is experienced, felt, seen, or heard it constructs a resilient impression. Secondly, Hume highpoints that less lively perceptions, which he names as ideas, are a response to the sensations or actions inspired by the remembrance of the impression. Therefore, in Hume’s approximation, everything in the mind is an empirical generation deriving from a previous experience. Hume elucidates then that the very nature of thought requires a grounding in those occurrences. Hume anticipated that you could doubt some things, but it was incredible to distrust everything. The following selection is taken from A Treatise of Human Nature where Hume implores various arguments that illustrate human knowledge and the processes of establishing new complex ideas of the external world, “when we analyze our thoughts or ideas, however complex or sublime, we always find they resolve themselves into such simple ideas as were copied from a precedent feeling or sentiment” (15). Hume labels this the Copy Principle. He ascertains that an individual can create thoughts that are only constructed within the arsenal of available impressions, and therefore, there is no variation to the initial impression that originated with the simple
The human mind is a very intricate instrument. There have been many people that have attempted, and failed, to illuminate how the human mind functions. The pursuit for the solution to this question has led to the development of two schools of philosophy, rationalism and empiricism, dealing specifically with epistemology, or, the origin of knowledge. Two of the most famous philosophers of epistemology are rationalist Rene Descartes and empiricist David Hume. Rationalism is the idea that reason and logic are the foundation of knowledge. It states that awareness is instinctive, and that it cannot come from sources such as the senses. Rationalists theorize that people are all born with the foundations …show more content…
Hume, unlike Descartes, did not experience the requisite of Cartesian doubt. It would be counter intuitive for Hume an empiricist to doubt everything when according to The Origin of Ideas knowledge is built on perceptions. The theory contends that an idea is a duplication of a mental impression. Hume highlights that when a lively perception of love, hate, or desire is experienced, felt, seen, or heard it constructs a resilient impression. Secondly, Hume highpoints that less lively perceptions, which he names as ideas, are a response to the sensations or actions inspired by the remembrance of the impression. Therefore, in Hume’s approximation, everything in the mind is an empirical generation deriving from a previous experience. Hume elucidates then that the very nature of thought requires a grounding in those occurrences. Hume anticipated that you could doubt some things, but it was incredible to distrust everything. The following selection is taken from A Treatise of Human Nature where Hume implores various arguments that illustrate human knowledge and the processes of establishing new complex ideas of the external world, “when we analyze our thoughts or ideas, however complex or sublime, we always find they resolve themselves into such simple ideas as were copied from a precedent feeling or sentiment” (15). Hume labels this the Copy Principle. He ascertains that an individual can create thoughts that are only constructed within the arsenal of available impressions, and therefore, there is no variation to the initial impression that originated with the simple