An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

by David Hume

abstruse;

subtle

one mistake is the necessary parent of another,

The fame of Cicero flourishes at present; but that of Aristotle is utterly decayed.

Ciceros philosophy was palatable, ie the former form of philosophy mentioned by Hume. His philosophy plays into the ideals of mass populatoon and hence it thrives presently. Aristotles philosophy was abstruse. less palatable by commonfolk. Hence his philosophy is decaying due to lack of understanding by people of today

La Bruyere

type i philosopher

Maleb...

type ii philosopher

Add...

type i philosopher

Locke shall be entirely ...

also a type ii philosopher

Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce, by the endless uncertainty in which they involve you, and by the cold reception which your pretended discoveries shall meet with, when communicated. Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.

abstruse philosophy negatively affects the minds of those who study it.

Abstruse thought and profound researches I prohibit, and will severely punish, by the pensive melancholy which they introduce, by the endless uncertainty in which they involve you, and by the cold reception which your pretended discoveries shall meet with, when communicated. Be a philosopher; but, amidst all your philosophy, be still a man.

Here, hume iterates that searching for deeper meaning is acceptable in a society heavily reliant on science. However, it becomes trivial when a philosopher engages in the "abstruse" research as mentioned by hume earlier. Population is encouraged by science to learn more about the world but only within the limit of what science has already proven.

The stoutest antagonist, if he remit his watch a moment, is oppressed. And many, through cowardice and folly, open the gates to the enemies, and willingly receive them with reverence and submission, as their legal sovereigns.

sanguine

It is remarkable concerning the operations of the mind, that, though most intimately present to us, yet, whenever they become the object of reflexion, they seem involved in obscurity;

The mind is what drives us to do the things we do hence it being most "intimately present to us" However, when one ponders the method of the mind (HOW it is able to bring about thoughts etc) more questions arise rather than solutions(faced with obscurity)

SECTION II

Distinguishing between thoughts/ideas and impressions Ideas: feelings that we RECALL or do not directly experience in the present. This includes, for eg, recalling feelings of anger from the past or trying to perceive someones feelings other than your own. if someone says that they are sad, you cant feel this sadness however you are able to assume how said person maybe feeling. Ideas are therefore very vague feelings. /expressions etc. They are constructed from past impressions. Impressions: what we are able to perceive in the present using our own senses.

The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest sensation.

Ideas/thoughts allude to only a fraction of actual impressions/sensations

Here therefore we may divide all the perceptions of the mind into two classes or species, which are distinguished by their different degrees of force and vivacity. The less forcible and lively are commonly denominated Thoughts or Ideas. The other species want a name in our language, and in most others; I suppose, because it was not requisite for any, but philosophical purposes, to rank them under a general term or appellation. Let us, therefore, use a little freedom, and call them Impressions; employing that word in a sense somewhat different from the usual.

And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are the less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned.

But though our thought seems to possess this unbounded liberty, we shall find, upon a nearer examination, that it is really confined within very narrow limits, and that all this creative power of the mind amounts to no more than the faculty of compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing the materials afforded us by the senses and experience.

all our ideas or more feeble perceptions are copies of our impressions or more lively ones.

ideas are only able to manifest as a result of our EXPERIENCES. we cannot draft an idea without drawing it from a previous impression. i.e. we see gold and we know how a mountain looks so therefore we can IMAGINE a gold mountain

The idea of God, as meaning an infinitely intelligent, wise, and good Being, arises from reflecting on the operations of our own mind, and augmenting, without limit, those qualities of goodness and wisdom.

incumbent

doctrine,

inveterate

All ideas, especially abstract ones, are naturally faint and obscure:

On the contrary, all impressions, that is, all sensations, either outward or inward, are strong and vivid:

what impression is that supposed idea derived?

all ideas would result from a previously experienced impression that the mind has stored. they are far less vivid and intricate than the initial impression and are constructed through imagination and memory.

enumerate

To me, there appear to be only three principles of connexion among ideas, namely, Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause or Effect.

The more instances we examine, and the more care we employ, the more assurance shall we acquire, that the enumeration, which we form from the whole, is complete and entire.

Hume is now seeking to prove the process of ideas being formed is based off his aforementioned principles: resemblance, contiguity, cause and effect

SECTION IV.

what form of reasoning leads us to make inferences based off our experiences i.e. cause and effect. How are we so sure of the validity of inferences based on what we have experienced. moral reasoning vs demonstrative reasoning Demonstrative reasoning: knowledge attained from relations of ideas. these can be proven by a standard series of steps. contradictions of knowledge based on this reasoning are not possible. Moral Reasoning: knowledge attained from our experiences/ matters of fact. The contradictory forms of knowledge from this form of reasoning MAY occur. unable to disprove that the contrary will/will not happen

Of the first kind are the sciences of Geometry, Algebra, and Arithmetic; and in short, every affirmation which is either intuitively or demonstratively certain.

relations of ideas can be proven by a specific set of steps. they hold true always.

Propositions of this kind are discoverable by the mere operation of thought,

relations if ideas utilize knowledge to bring about factual solutions. these solutions cant be contradicted. eg. 2+2=4 pertain only to mathematical problems

ascertained

foregoing.

The contrary of every matter of fact is s...

Matters of fact can be contradicted. these statements may not always hold true. This is because matters of fact statements are "dependent on what is already present in the universe"

It may, therefore, be a subject worthy of curiosity, to enquire what is the nature of that evidence which assures us of any real existence and matter of fact, beyond the present testimony of our senses, or the records of our memory.

How are we so convinced of scientific "matter of fact" statements when all we can really be sure of is what we can perceive in the present

All reasonings concerning matter of fact seem to be founded on the relation of Cause and Effect.

anatomize

priori;

inferences based on demonstrative deduction rather than experiences (moral deduction)

tincture

arbitrary;

In vain, therefore, should we pretend to determine any single event, or infer any cause or effect, without the assistance of observation and experience.

explication

sagacious

What is the nature of all our reasonings concerning matter of fact? the proper answer seems to be, that they are founded on the relation of cause and effect.

All reasonings may be divided into two kinds, namely, demonstrative reasoning, or that concerning relations of ideas, and moral reasoning, or that concerning matter of fact and existence.

extirpation