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.…
Gladiator [glad-ee-ey-ter]: a person, often a slave or captive, who was armed with a sword or other weapon and compelled to fight to the death in a public arena against another person or a wild animal, for the entertainment of the spectators. Now consider the description of a football player [fo͝otbôl plāər]; a person, often a male, who is armed with large muscles as weapons and compelled to fight brutally until victorious in a public arena against another team, for the entertainment of the spectators. Football is essentially a modern form of gladiator sportsmanship, pinning two teams against each other without constraints or restrictions about contact and injury for the mere entertainment of the audience. The effects of this game are both physical and mental, impacting the lives of the men who have bravely sacrificed their longevity for their fans.…
David Hume's changed the idea of skepticism in a very different way. While Descartes used doubt and skepticism as a way to find out the foundations and roots of knowledge,Hume used sleo contrast with what we saw as the ordinary claims of knowledge. Hume explains two types of skepticism: antecedent and consequent. Both of these come in a very moderate and extreme form. He explains antecedent skepticism by using the Descartes theory of universal doubt. He explains that there is no principle that is more self evident than doubt and even if there was we would not be able to advance ahead of it because we our still able to doubt and reason deductively. This would mean Antecedent skepticism is incurable.…
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.…
Since we have sufficient direct experience to support the existence of evil, if God exists he is either an impotent God or a malicious God; not the God of classical theism. Hume concluded that God therefore does not exist.…
Throughout history authors have had opposing views towards human nature. Writers such as John Locke and Karl Marx believe that humans are naturally good and put their trust in human nature. However, writers such as Machiavelli oppose these views and does not put trust in human nature because he believes humans are naturally evil. Locke focuses his writings on human rights, Marx describes the influences of the economy, and Machiavelli details his beliefs of government. Their perceptions of human nature influence their writing and their view of government.…
Hume begins section nine with the assertion that we reason by way of analogy. That is, we come to expect certain events from particular causes. Being presented with similar causes will give rise to inferences, and different cases with varying degrees of similarity will have corresponding levels of analogy, with very similar cases resulting in inferences that are taken to be certain and conclusive. Hume provides an example of a strong case of similarity, in which a man, who is familiar with iron, can be certain in inferring the weight and composition of pieces of iron which he has yet to come into contact with. In such a scenario, the man would have no room for doubt that he should expect a new piece of iron to be any different from previously…
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…
A company has developed a new computer sound card whose average lifetime is unknown. In order to estimate this average, 200 sound cards are randomly selected from a large production line and tested; their average lifetime is found to be 5 years. The 200 sound cards represent a:…
God has always been an abstract subject for me. Throughout the entirety of my life I have never had a clear understanding of what God is, or even if there is a God. However, even though I never had a clear understanding of God or how we could even know of him, Descartes and Paley suggest that we can know God and that he is within our understanding. Throughout the readings they describe and argue how we can now the existence of God and the attributes that are associated with him. However, David Hume would refute these claims saying, through his dialogues that we cannot know the attributes or even for that matter the existence. During this paper I will analyze Descartes and Paley’s arguments in comparison with David Hume’s arguments that…
Hume denies reason any power because he is an empiricist. Instead three main principles exist that help humans form ideas; they are resemblance (when looking at a picture a person thinks of the object), contiguity (thinking of an object that is close spatially), and cause and effect (association). Hume claims that reason alone cannot establish matters of facts. There is no reason to believe that what happened one time will happen again. For example, there is no reason for Adam to believe that a rock will fall if he drops it unless he experiences it many times. Even with experience one cannot reason a matter of fact to be true, because the universe may not be uniform. There is a chance that because one thing happened many times, it makes it more possible that it will not happen again.…
Hume’s Argument for the claim that we’re not justified in our belief in the occurrence of miracles has five statements and it begins with the First Statement: We consider resurrection as a violation of the laws of nature as a dead person has come back to life. Secondly, it is a law of nature that dead people don’t come back to life(based on all prior experience), Statement three is that based on our past experience, every observed case, the probability of a dead person coming back to life is zero. We maintain that Hume’s Epistemological Principle is true. Therefore, we cannot justifiably believe that dead people come back to life. However strong the total argument each statement must hold up to the scrutiny that may be presented by those with opposing views and ideas.…
While many rationalists such as René Descartes support the notion that the concept of Inception is not possible, empiricists such as David Hume may think differently. Hume was an eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher known for his system of radical and philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism. In one of his works, Hume stated that one cannot create completely new ideas without either prior knowledge of those ideas, or experiencing those ideas. Put differently, he believed that the ideas of an individual are derived or inspired by other ideas that the individual has observed, because there is no such thing as an “original idea.” Taking Hume’s theory into account, in the movie Inception, the protagonist Dom Cobb teaches his new architect, Ariadne, how dreaming works. In their shared dream, Ariadne comes across Dom’s wife, Mal. While this…
Hume and Kant offered two differing views on morality. Hume's philosophy regarding moral theory came from the belief that reason alone can never cause action. Desire or thoughts cause action. Because reason alone can never cause action, morality is rooted in us and our perception of the world and what we want to gain from it. Virtue arises from acting on a desire to help others. Hume's moral theory is therefore a virtue-centered morality rather than the natural-law morality, which saw morality as coming from God. Kant's notion of morality stems from his notion of one universal moral law. This law is pertinent to all people and can be used at all times before carrying our actions According to Kant, you ought to act according to the maxim that is qualified for universal law giving; that is, you ought to act so that the maxim of your action may become a universal law. While Hume and Kant's moral theory differ dramatically, they share one quality and that is the fact that neither centers around the concept of God and his will.…
Leadership and management style have proven to be important factors in the effectiveness and development of an organization. (Blake, 1991) argues that leadership and management style influences levels of motivation, performance and commitment within a business. This essay using Richard Branson and Michael O’Leary as case study examples, aims to discuss how the state of affairs within an organization can be attributed to different leadership styles and behavior.…