Why History Matters: Associations and Causal Judgment in Hume and Cognitive Science Mark Collier University of Minnesota‚ Morris Abstract: It is commonly thought that Hume endorses the claim that causal cognition can be fully explained in terms of nothing but custom and habit. Associative learning does‚ of course‚ play a major role in the cognitive psychology of the Treatise. But Hume recognizes that associations cannot provide a complete account of causal thought. If human beings lacked
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is what we each individually consist of. Hume explained this theory through an analogy of a theatre. In summary‚ the mind is like a theatre‚ in which our perceptions are constantly crossing the stage‚ leaving‚ and returning‚ and this is what creates our identity. In order to reach this conclusion‚ Hume looked into himself and found that not only was he never without perceptions‚ but could never catch “himself”. In search of a core being within himself‚ Hume found only perceptions. Thus‚ he concluded
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David Hume is a renowned Philosopher that has shaped the ideas of cause and effect (causality) as we know them today. He suggested that true cause and effect relationship has to be the result of A causing B. The occurrence of B happening is contingent on the fact that A occurs before B‚ thus causing B to happen. Since he holds that this is the only rational way to conclude that one thing causes another to happen‚ he goes as far as to say that human beings will never know the exact cause that takes
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epistemology‚ meaning the study of knowledge. This is where the works or David Hume and René Descartes come into play. Hume was a Scottish philosopher whose epistemological work revolved around the idea that our senses relay the truth to us. Descartes believed did not trust
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The existence of God has been a question since the idea of God was conceived. Descartes tries to prove Gods existence‚ to disprove his Evil demon theory‚ and to show that there is without a doubt something external to ones own existence. He is looking for a definite certainty‚ a foundation for which he can base all of his beliefs and know for a fact that they are true. Descartes overall project is to find a definite certainty on which he can base all his knowledge and beliefs. A foundation that
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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
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010 Leibniz and the Existence of God The existence of God has always been a controversial subject though despite what others thought Leibniz did believe in the existence of God. Leibniz goes on attempting to explain God using a priori and a posteriori arguments and also proving God using monads. Leibniz’s a priori explanation of God is that the concept which everyone has of God is that of a most perfect being‚ a greater being cannot be conceived. Therefore God must really exist; otherwise
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The debate of whether God exists or does not has been going on from the time of the ancient philosophers such as St. Aquinas and St. Anselm‚ who both supported the existence of God‚ whereas‚ many years later there were those who tried to disprove the arguments presented. Some of these disbelievers include Immanuel Kant‚ Friedrich Nietzsche and David Hume‚ all whom argue that God does not indeed exist. Although God is considered dead and nonexistent by many‚ he does indeed exist because something
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The Existence of God and Evil The problem of evil has been around since the beginning. How could God allow such suffering of his “chosen people”? God is supposedly all loving (omni-benevolent) and all powerful (omnipotent) and yet He allows His creations to live in a world of danger and pain. Two philosophers this class has discussed pertaining to this problem is B.C. Johnson and John Hick. Johnson provides the theists’ defense of God and he argues them. These include free will‚ moral urgency‚
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material world‚ which surrounds us. For centuries‚ a belief in a God or Gods has been an ongoing debate. As humans‚ we have a natural instinct to find explanations for events that cannot be explained. I‚ like many others look for something transcendent on which to build our lives upon. There are numerous arguments presented to prove the existence of God‚ however the most convincing of those ways begins from the fact of the existence of the world. These types of arguments are known as “cosmological”
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