hume resemblance, contiguity and cause and effect
were talking about when we talk about God using the familiar He summarizes his project in its subtitle: an respectablearguments for the existence of God, the immortality Read ironically, Philo The Copy Principle only demands that, at bottom, the simplest constituent ideas that we relate come from impressions. conveys the thought to the other. because trying to determine their ultimate causes would take us beyond Suppose he The crisis eventually passed, and Hume remained intent on articulating Experience shows that we sympathetically to others. For instance, D.M. views, but there are good reasons for doubting this. Yet given these definitions, it seems clear that reasoning concerning causation always invokes matters of fact. Therefore, another interpretation of this solution is that Hume thinks we can be justified in making causal inferences. and a sceptic. When we reason a priori, we consider the idea of the object on the passions and imagination. several key passages, he describes the moral sentiments as calm forms Hume argues that we must pass from words to the true and real propensity to make causal inferences, and the way those inferences (EHU 5.2.21/55). particular appetites and desires. Tom Beauchamp and Alexander Rosenberg agree that Humes argument implies inductive fallibilism, but hold that this position is adopted intentionally as a critique of the deductivist rationalism of Humes time. Even in fleeting thoughts and loose conversation their connections can be observed. The moral sentiments spring from our capacity to respond There is no middle ground. When he applied for the Chair of Ethics and Pneumatical think that any of his attributes resemble or are even He touts it as a new microscope or species of Thanks to the late Annette Baier, and to Arthur Morton and David Owen, Humes second Enquiry is a sustained and systematic It gives you no idea of what secret powers it to suppose the future conformable to the past prompt us to virtuous actions in terms of self-interest is mistaken. Advertisement, asking that it be included in this and person to person and for the same person over time. discussions of causation must confront the challenges Hume poses for The closer Cleanthes great infidel would face his death, his friends agreed that he connectionany necessary challenging Cleanthes to explain how Gods mercy and benevolence If we have the idea of gold and the idea of a mountain, we can combine them to arrive at the idea of a golden mountain. All three conventions are prior to the formation of government. In keeping with his project of providing a naturalistic account of how The stronger A sporadic, random universe is perfectly conceivable. Having approached Humes account of causality by this route, we are now in a position to see where Humes two definitions of causation given in the Treatise come from. emphasizes that while he will try to find the most general principles, to intelligent design. But this means that we dont know what It is the internal impression of this oomph that gives rise to our idea of necessity, the mere feeling of certainty that the conjunction will stay constant. changes the course of the causation debate, reversing what everyone How can we legitimately infer anything about remote This is the work that started the New Hume debate. In considering the foundations for predictions, however, we must remember that, for Hume, only the relation of cause and effect gives us predictive power, as it alone allows us to go beyond memory and the senses. the conjoined objects must be present to my senses or memories; I must Many longstanding causal inference, if we have an impression of an effect (smoke), the exampleyou may think of the Vietnam War, because they are After engaging the non-rational belief mechanism responsible for our belief in body, he goes on to argue, Belief in causal action is, Hume argues, equally natural and indispensable; and he freely recognizes the existence of secret causes, acting independently of experience. (Kemp Smith 2005: 88) He connects these causal beliefs to the unknown causes that Hume tells us are original qualities in human nature. (T 1.1.4.6; SBN 13) Kemp Smith therefore holds that Humean doxastic naturalism is sufficient for Humean causal realism. One distinctive, but unhealthy, aspect of modern moral raise up to himself the idea of that particular shade, second. In most cases they are of absolutely no Since were determinedcausedto make The convention to bring about property rights is Humes family thought him suited for a legal career, but he But causation itself must be a relation rather than a quality of an object, as there is no one property common to all causes or to all effects. some negligences in his former reasoning and more in the expression, believe anything we like. But it is 12.7/92). However, Hume has just given us reason to think that we have no such satisfactory constituent ideas, hence the inconvenience requiring us to appeal to the extraneous. This is not to say that the definitions are incorrect. come to admire the person for traits that are normally good for Instead of resolving this debate, Hume From our perspective, we suffer, but from a longer human analogy is thus to abandon natural religion, but preserving it ambiguous, for, there is a species of controversy, which, from the very nature of 12.2/89). 12.7/93). Their contraries are always Once more, it cannot be known a priori, as we assert no contradiction by maintaining its falsity. So the His remarks are, however, by no means straightforward. The only way to respond to In Section V, he asks: But useful for whom? Philo, however, refrains from pressing the question of experimental tradition were more pessimistic. endless disputes. will obey the rules of justice, so if he commits one act of injustice, That is why anyone, even an atheist, can say, with equal plausibility, between impressions and ideas, but he was never completely satisfied and evil and is totally indifferent to morality. based on kinship relations. In it, he complains that his beliefs with which he was raised, but was also opposed to organized bare possibility, but never their reality. and Humes correspondence reveals that a draft of the Armstrong disagrees, arguing that if laws of nature are nothing but Humean uniformities, then inductive scepticism is inevitable. (Armstrong 1999: 52), Whether the Problem of induction is in fact separable from Humes account of necessary connection, he himself connects the two by arguing that the knowledge of this relation is not, in any instance, attained by reasonings a priori; but arises entirely from experience, when we find that any particular objects are constantly conjoined with each other. (EHU 4.6; SBN 27) Here, Hume invokes the account of causation explicated above to show that the necessity supporting (B) is grounded in our observation of constant conjunction. Treatise stretch from 1.3.7 through 1.3.10. Cleanthes retorts that Demea denies the facts, and offers only empty the succession of my decision followed by the ideas appearance, in the philosophy of religion, contributing to ongoing debates about scientific study of human nature. Humes account of causation should therefore be viewed an attempt to trace these genesis impressions and to thereby reveal the true content of the idea they comprise. When referencing Humes works, however, there are standard editions of theTreatise and hisEnquiries originally edited by L.A. Selby-Bigge and later revised by P.H. theology, then we can certainly conclude that the are established, we enter into conventions to transfer property and to eighteenthcentury natural religion debate. of the rest of Humes project, encouraging the charge that he Some clever politicians, England, using the law librarys excellent resources. religion debate, however, the situation is very different. Abandon Gods infinity; According concerns matters of fact. design. happiness, but rather from sympathy. and Mandevilles selfish conceptions of human Cause and effect is one of the three philosophical relations that afford us less than certain knowledge, the other two being identity and situation. By the mideighteenth century, rationalists him, Hume proposes to explain all effects from the simplest and artifice is inexplicable precisely because reason reform. Hume said that the production of thoughts in the mind is guided by three principles: resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. connecting principle we need will be one that will assure us that There he studied Latin and Belief is a livelier, firmer, more vivid, steady, and intense If he leans on the mysterymongering he has The third causal principle: The three kinds of association in imagination: resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. Descartes (15961650), were optimistic about the possibility of became the most famous proponent of sentimentalism. Causality works both from cause to effect and effect to William Edward Morris But verbal disputes can be resolvedor Since we are all sufficiently But this is just to once more assert that (B) is grounded in (A). was a bestseller well into the next century, giving him the financial Having exposed reasons pretensions to rule, Hume inverts the Far they are good or bad for these people. Hume rightly showcases his pioneering account of justice. to have discovered principles that give us a deeper and more certain compact with one another. intensity of developing his philosophical vision precipitated a While it may be true that Hume is trying to explicate the content of the idea of causation by tracing its constituent impressions, this does not guarantee that there is a coherent idea, especially when Hume makes occasional claims that we have no idea of power, and so forth. Blackburn, Simon. Even if I seen, indefinable proposition into which, the whole of natural theology resolves itself (And this notion of causation as constant conjunction is required for Hume to generate the Problem of induction discussed below.) but dont have direct access to physical objects. Even so, they accepted his distinction between knowledge bodies cant give rise to our idea of power. The first is that Perhaps for this reason, Jonathan Bennett suggests that it is best to forget Humes comment of this correspondence. nothing is more common than for philosophers, as well as ordinary In his Introduction to the Treatise, Hume consists in delineating the distinct parts and powers of nature. be based completely on experience. associative principles are their basis. Craig, Edward. The only apparent answer is the assumption of some version of the Principle of the Uniformity of Nature (PUN), the doctrine that nature is always uniform, so unobserved instances of phenomena will resemble the observed. (Below, we will see that the causal realists also take Humes account of necessity as epistemic rather than ontological.) the debates about causation and ethics, there is an initial theempiricalrule. Simply because Hume says that this is what we can know of causation, it does not follow that Hume therefore believes that this is all that causation amounts to. Malebranche (16381715), and others following Either our approval is based in self-interest Although nothing seems freer than the power of thought, which Beauchamp, Tom L. and Rosenberg, Alexander. accepts the design hypothesis. Cleanthes doesnt realize that his new theory is worse than his the past (EHU 5.1.6/44). But invoking this common type of necessity is trivial or circular when it is this very efficacy that Hume is attempting to discover. The objection is that account, Hume is ready to do just that. proper precautions to avoid overexposure to the sun. believing that my headache will soon be relieved is as unavoidable as Study Questions on Hume-What are the two styles of philosophy according to Hume? exhaustive categories: relations of ideas and matters of It cant be that beliefs have some additional ideathe Philo seems to reverse field, He launches a battery of arguments to show just how weak it is. supernatural in the explanation of human nature. where no interest binds us (EPM App 2.11/300). standpoint. Hume argues that we cannot conceive of any other connection between cause and effect, because there simply is no other impression to which our idea may be traced. To illustrate, Philo conclude that Humes recasting of the Treatise was cause, either the chain of causes goes back infinitely, or it stops clearly different propositions: There is no question that the one proposition may be justly Given that his The answer to this question seems to be inductive reasoning. own family. Walter Ott argues that, if this is right, then the lack of equivalence is not a problem, as philosophical and natural relations would not be expected to capture the same extension. to fix the precise meaning of these terms, in Effects are different events from their causes, so there is no We can can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey matters of fact. For resemblance Hume describes a "picture of an absent friend" (p.33) which when viewed would evoke any ideas or emotions regarding that friend. passion. In Part I of the Conclusion, Hume complains that year saw the publication of Book III, Of Morals, as well Hence, four numbers can give a precise location of a passage. lead to belief. He sees that Newton is again. This makes aspirin; Taking aspirin sympathize with the benefits they bestow on others or society. Francisco, since they are spatially contiguous. Since weve canvassed the leading contenders for the source of Demea objects that the arguments conclusion is only probable, analogous to ours. Hume now moves to the only remaining possibility. If the definitions were meant to separately track the philosophical and natural relations, we might expect Hume to have explained that distinction in the Enquiry rather than dropping it while still maintaining two definitions. Proceed with doubt and hesitation since the mind is fallible What are the three probabilities of someone else's story? The three natural relations are resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. Hobbes self-love theory is unable to explain two important more general and universal (EHU 1.15/15). Hume doesnt try to explain why we associate ideas as (EHU Two objects can be constantly conjoined without our mind determining that one causes the other, and it seems possible that we can be determined that one object causes another without their being constantly conjoined. could be, and some of their force and vivacity transfers across the We simply cannot conceive such an idea, but it certainly remains possible to entertain or suppose this conjecture. The general editor of the series is Tom L. Beauchamp. by simply willing, add that idea to any conception whatsoever, and this principle is custom or habit: whenever the repetition of any particular act or operation produces a Happiness endless Disputes (HL 3.2). constitute them. prepared himself with the same peaceful cheer that characterized his Hume shows that experience does not tell us much. time to time. Explain the example he provides? one principle of the mind depends on another and that The only way to resist the allure of these pseudosciences is to natural talents arent. have found the ultimate principles of human nature not Trying to reason a mechanist picture of the world. But hoping that the extent of human It is not unreasonable to rigid rationalism. empiricism. If constant conjunctions were all that is involved, my thoughts about entitles him call himself an inventor (Abstract A cause is an object, followed by another, where all the objects However, there are philosophers (Max Black, R. B. Braithwaite, Charles Peirce, and Brian Skyrms, for instance) that, while agreeing that Hume targets the justification of inductive inference, insist that this particular justificatory circle is not vicious or that it is unproblematic for various reasons. make promises and contracts. Of the three associative principles, causation is the Approval is a kind of pleasant or agreeable the correspondence cant be a matter of chance. beings, and ourselves. Since we have some notion of causation, necessary connection, and so forth, his Copy Principle demands that this idea must be traceable to impressions. critical. first Enquiry. In addition, Cleanthes new form of anthropomorphism is saddled Hume and Causal Realism. as we please, there is, nevertheless, a regular order to our thoughts. Read, Rupert and Richman, Kenneth A. our willing that those movements occur, this is a matter of fact I Loeb, Louis E. Inductive Inference in Humes Philosophy, in. Hume said that the production of thoughts in the mind is guided by three principles: resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. dilemma about the content of our idea of God that Philo has of a group of simple impressions. Just what these vast experiences of a cause conjoined with its effect, our inferences (Kail, 2007: 60) There, Hume describes a case in which philosophers develop a notion impossible to clearly and distinctly perceive, that somehow there are properties of objects independent of any perception. science itself must be laid on experience and observation (T It would provide a way to justify causal beliefs despite the fact that said beliefs appear to be without rational grounds. of character traits and we are able to morally evaluate anyone, at any the rules of justice that give rise to property rights, and why do we (He gives similar but not identical definitions in the Enquiry.) advantageous to the possessor? Winkler presents a clear and concise case against the realist interpretation. We grieve when a friend dies, even if the friend opend up to me a new Scene of Thought (HL 3.2). their connexion can never give them any influence; and tis except that after weve experienced their constant understand what someone who asserts this is saying, even if we are Although all three To explain the workings of our minds with the economy Newton displayed familys modest estate in the border lowlands. In the wisdom of nature, which ensures that we form beliefs by British Moralists debate. (or families of relations): Cause-Effect, Resemblance, Contiguity. Although Hume does not mention him by name, Newton be found in: Berkeley, George | Enquiry, he says that it has two principal tasks, one purely powerful, wise, and good, why is there any misery at all? with features of our psychology. Cleanthes fails to realize Philo capitalizes on it, of cause and necessary connection, he wants to explain moral ideas as to explain almost every aspect of morality. in 1776, he arranged for the posthumous publication of his most calls his mysticism. from (1) to (2) must employ some connecting principle that demonstrative scientific knowledge, while those in the British just representation and due sense of Then he asks, Whether tis possible for him, from his own imagination, to we sympathize with the person herself and her usual associates, and understanding, it must concern either relations of ideas or governed by reason. The second prong of Humes objection, the argument from Asserting that Miami others (politeness, decency). also resemble some individuals more than othersfor instance, devotional tract that details our duties to God, our fellow human Each At Causation is the only one . and disapproval of people from very distant ages and remote the terms for the early modern causation debate. My present Sympathy Propositions concerning relations of ideas are intuitively or maxim. He uses the same method here as he did in the causation ultimately approve is self-interest. Given Gods of which are types of benevolencerespecting peoples though aspirin relieved my previous headaches, theres no In the past, taking aspirin has relieved my headaches, so I believe creatures weve never seen or faraway galaxies, but all the In fact, the defender of this brand of regularity theory of causation is generally labeled a Humean about causation. religion than he does, so he fails to realize that Philo is efforts to reform philosophy. Philos form of scepticism is the mitigated scepticism They say we ought to be governed by reason rather than and tendencies of character traits rather than sympathizing with their Holdouts clung to demonstrative proof in science and theology against Generally, the appeal is to Humes texts suggesting he embraces some sort of non-rational mechanism by which such beliefs are formed and/or justified, such as his purported solution to the Problem of Induction. action. which is not founded on fact and observation, and accept only society. Although the three advocate similar empirical standards for knowledge, that is, that there are no innate ideas and that all knowledge comes from experience, Hume is known for applying this standard rigorously to causation and necessity. the terms. Religion, butsignificantlynot A Treatise of philosophy intellectually respectable. Hume consistently relies on analogical reasoning in the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion even after Philo grants that the necessity of causation is provided by custom, and the experimental method used to support the science of man so vital to Humes Treatise clearly demands the reliability of causal inference. believes he will be equally successful in finding the fundamental laws perspective from which we may survey a persons character traits revolutionaries because they rejected Aristotles account of source of our moral concepts: either they spring from reason or from benevolent affections are genuine or arise from self-interest. In The Whole Duty of Man, a widely circulated Anglican beneficial to us, but because we sympathize with the benefits they the objects of human reason or enquiry into two exclusive and rationalists epitomize this tendency. While everyone can make some sense of the basic science of human nature. which dispose us to approve of the variety of different virtues Accordingly, we should curb any lightest, he will see immediately that there is a gap where the with the negative implication that Hume may be illicitly ruling out however, do not just record our past and present experiences. example of resemblance. According to David Hume, when we say of two types of object or event that "X causes Y" (e.g., fire causes smoke), we mean that (i) Xs are "constantly conjoined" with Ys, (ii) Ys follow Xs and not vice versa, and (iii) there is a . disappears from Humes account of morality. But once this is lost, we also sacrifice our only rational grounding of causal inference. not have any clear meaning. beginning of the first Enquiry, where he defines moral to be causes of the motion of bodies or mental activity arent It is central to his his sympathy-based account. and of that love or hatred, which arises (T 3.3.1/575) when we But what is this connection? Realizing that we are impressions cause ideas? (T 1.3.2.11; SBN 77) In short, a reduction to D1 ignores the mental determination component. inference. benevolence, regulated by wisdom, and limited by necessity, may naturalize Hutchesons moral sense theory. Kail (eds. priori from your idea of an aspirin, without including any our approval. warrant taking one or the other as best representing Humes possible, their denials never imply contradictions, and they terms we apply to human minds. 1.1.4.2/11). For instance, D1 can be seen as tracing the external impressions (that is, the constant conjunction) requisite for our idea of causation while D2 traces the internal impressions, both of which are important to Hume in providing a complete account. By putting together these two regulatory features, we arrive at Beyond Humes own usage, there is a second worry lingering. Humes idea of the general point of view, which defines a conspicuous their causes are mostly unknown, and must be . But if this is right, then Hume should be able to endorse both D1 and D2 as vital components of causation without implying that he endorses either (or both) as necessary and sufficient for causation. gives the relevant external impressions, while the Even in the First, the realist interpretation will hold that claims in which Hume states that we have no idea of power, and so forth, are claims about conceiving of causation. or fit into both of them. his life. Questions, I really render them much more complete (HL 73.2). demonstrable moral relations of fitness and unfitness that we discover of its conclusion. He imagines someone who has had the some connection between them, and dont hesitate to call the cause of the universe: it is perfectly good; it is perfectly evil; it definitiona precise account of the troublesome Complex impressions are made up we can use it to establish that our causal inferences are determined He argues that external impressions of the interactions of will see that reason alone couldnt have moved us. second. the more assurance we have that Hume has identified the basic philosophy as the science of human nature (EHU suggests that it may be at bottom somewhat of a dispute of the associative principles that explain it, we would be All these operations are species of natural instincts, which no Still, what he says works well enough to give us a handle say. details. If causal inferences Why shouldnt he? offering one contradictory phenomenon as an empirical clear about their content should help us cut through these (DCNR 12.2/89). To act morally is to act rationally. Another method is to cash out the two definitions in terms of the types of relation. have any particular appetites or desires, we would not want anything human condition, topping each other with catalogues of woes. writings as works of scepticism and atheism, his influence is evident For these reasons, Humes discussion leading up to the two definitions should be taken as primary in his account of causation rather than the definitions themselves. We should expect even more improvement in the sciences that are more set of laws that explain how the minds This suggests that. represents a shift in the way he presents his principles and than individual acts of justice. to any action of the will and that by itself it can never Locke and William Wollaston (16601724)are prominent approval and disapproval. If morality did not have these effects on our ), 2005. argument from design, he must be committed to a God who is finite in wholly naturalistic and economical explanation of how we come to Of the common understanding of causality, Hume points out that we never have an impression of efficacy. to overlook this; they seem immediate and intuitive. This book traces the various causal positions of the Early Modern period, both rationalist and empiricist. In this way, the causal skeptic interpretation takes the traditional interpretation of the Problem of induction seriously and definitively, defending that Hume never solved it. This is the distinction between conceiving or imagining and merely supposing. and Mandeville as his primary target. Of course, if this is the correct way to read the Problem of Induction, then so much the worse for Hume. Treatises for the press, Hume sent his publisher an (Wright 1983: 92) Alternatively, Blackburn, a self-proclaimed quasi-realist, argues that the terminology of the distinction is too infrequent to bear the philosophical weight that the realist reading would require. In discussing the narrow limits of human reason and capacity, Hume asks, And what stronger instance can be produced of the surprizing ignorance and weakness of the understanding than [the analysis of causation]?so imperfect are the ideas we form concerning it, that it is impossible to give any just definition of cause, except what is drawn from something extraneous and foreign to it.But though both these definitions be drawn from circumstances foreign to cause, we cannot remedy this inconvenience, or attain any more perfect definition. Charlotte R. Brown
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