David Hume's Necessary Connection
Will Bamesberger
Philosophy 107
9/24/12
Hume Writing Assignment 1
Hume questions why humans always make a necessary connection to events. Hume has always stated that it is impossible for humans to think anything that they have not already experienced. So to find the idea of Necessary Connection we have to look back on our impressions. We have to find where the idea of Necessary Connection came from. Hume argues that we cannot create new ideas for ourselves, which solidifies his position on Necessary Connection. Hume has an explanation for this his stand on Necessary Connection. Hume argues that there is cause instead of Necessary Connection. We cannot show the necessity of cause to every new existence without also showing that something’s existence depends on a productive principal. For example we are unable to explain why we are able to move our thumb. We know we can will it to do so but we do not know the process of the action. We are unable to connect all the biological connections such as nerves and impulses from our brain telling certain muscles and tendons to do the action of moving our thumb. Also, since all distinct ideas can be separated, and cause and effect are distinct ideas, we can conceive any object to be non-existent and then existent without attaching causality. This goes back to the ability, or non-ability, of humans to create an idea. There has to be a cause and effect in our minds when an event happens. Now, we go all the way back to the beginning of existence. The separation of the idea of cause from the beginning of existence is possible in the imagination. Hume says that we do not need to associate a cause with the beginning of
Philosophy 107
9/24/12
Hume Writing Assignment 1
Hume questions why humans always make a necessary connection to events. Hume has always stated that it is impossible for humans to think anything that they have not already experienced. So to find the idea of Necessary Connection we have to look back on our impressions. We have to find where the idea of Necessary Connection came from. Hume argues that we cannot create new ideas for ourselves, which solidifies his position on Necessary Connection. Hume has an explanation for this his stand on Necessary Connection. Hume argues that there is cause instead of Necessary Connection. We cannot show the necessity of cause to every new existence without also showing that something’s existence depends on a productive principal. For example we are unable to explain why we are able to move our thumb. We know we can will it to do so but we do not know the process of the action. We are unable to connect all the biological connections such as nerves and impulses from our brain telling certain muscles and tendons to do the action of moving our thumb. Also, since all distinct ideas can be separated, and cause and effect are distinct ideas, we can conceive any object to be non-existent and then existent without attaching causality. This goes back to the ability, or non-ability, of humans to create an idea. There has to be a cause and effect in our minds when an event happens. Now, we go all the way back to the beginning of existence. The separation of the idea of cause from the beginning of existence is possible in the imagination. Hume says that we do not need to associate a cause with the beginning of