Word Count: Professor Nelson Philosophical Perspectives 12 October 2012 Writing Assignment #1 Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume is a philosophical piece concerning the existence of God. Arguments for and against the existence of God are portrayed in dialogue through three characters; Demea‚ Cleanthes‚ and Philo. All three agree that God exists‚ but they drastically differ in their opinions of God’s attributes or characteristics‚ and if man can understand God. The characters
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In Appendix I.‚ Concerning Moral Sentiment‚ David Hume looks to find a place in morality for reason‚ and sentiment. Through‚ five principles he ultimately concludes that reason has no place within the concept of morality‚ but rather is something that can only assist sentiment in matters concerning morality. And while reason can be true or false‚ those truths or falsities apply to facts‚ not to morality. He then argues morals are the direct result of sentiment‚ or the inner feeling within a human
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Jac Brueneman Hume and Kant Hume Essay In David Hume’s masterful argument‚ Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding‚ he addresses the foundation and processes of our epistemology through both empirical and applied epistemology. In this argument he addresses the issue of what‚ exactly‚ necessary causation is‚ its importance to our epistemology‚ and whether or not we are able to truly understand it. While Hume’s argument concerning necessary connection is strong there are flaws in it regarding
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famous quote is "I think therefore I am." David Hume‚ an empiricist‚ wanted to explain knowledge on a non-theological basis. Hume believed that a priori ideas did not exist and that our ideas are not innate but derived from experience of perceptions. He believed these perceptions could be divided into impressions and ideas. He believed that humans learned through impressions and if there are no impressions then there is no idea. Unlike Descartes‚ Hume believed that every persons perceptions were
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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
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Hume ’s view of what constitutes personal identity rests heavily upon his preceding theories concerning the nature of ideas and causation. The most important preceding ideas to take into account are the rejection of causality and necessary connection and his strict empiric stance on the basis of knowledge and the only two types of perception being ideas that are reliant on initial impressions. There will clearly be difficulty in defining and explaining ’the self ’ when both the notions of causality
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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)
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According to Hume‚ there are two types of beliefs‚ relations of ideas and matters of facts. Relations of ideas are indisputable. Such as a widow is a woman whose husband died. Such thoughts are usually definitions. Since it is impossible for a Widow to be anything other then the definition‚ these ideas are indisputable. Matters of facts claim that if the opposite is imaginable‚ then it is possible. Matters of fact are debatable‚ such as the belief in a God or that the world will end. While it is
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Descartes‚ Hume and Skepticism Descartes is responsible for the skepticism that has been labeled Cartesian doubt. Hume critiques this skepticism in his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. After his discussion of Cartesian doubt‚ he offers a different type of skepticism that he considers as being more effective philosophically. Is Hume right in his characterization of Cartesian doubt and is the skepticism he offers better? Descartes introduced the idea of universal doubt to philosophy. If
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John Locke was best known as an advocate of empiricism and for his belief of tabula rasa‚ or the blank slate. In this way his beliefs were similar to those of the behaviorist school of thought. Locke is known as the father of English Empiricism. Empiricism believes that everyone is born with a blank slate that we fill as we experience life. The knowledge that we gain throughout life is due to our experiences‚ not through reasoning or thought. Locke believed that there is only the capacity to have
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