David Hume's Natural Empiricism

David Hume, a philosopher from the eighteenth century, is best known for his philosophy of empiricist naturalism, an evolution of the ideas originally conceived by the philosopher Locke. With his philosophy, Hume aspired to "do for human nature what Isaac Newton did for nonhuman nature" (Melchart 395), and to explain the intricacies of human nature in an understandable way. The beginning of natural empiricist thought comes from Hume's division of our experiences with the world into two categories, impressions and ideas. Impressions, Hume writes, are "those perceptions, which enter with most force and violence" (qtd. in Melchart 397), referring to perceptions one senses immediately, such as the sun on a warm day, or perhaps the feeling of being …show more content…
Instead, Hume falls back on his earlier analysis of the idea of causes, asking himself what causes humans to behave in certain ways, if anything. In this way, Hume identifies several constant conjunctions with human behavior, based on his analysis of the behaviors of himself and others. But, Hume argues, "We cannot surely mean, that actions have so little connexion with motives, inclinations, and circumstances, that one does not follow with a certain degree of uniformity from the other," (qtd. in Melchart 410). By this, Hume means that these patterns of behaviour are not indicitive of a lack of liberty, but that all people have the power to act as they will, only falling into certain patterns based on common interests. Thus, Hume concludes, free will is compatible with naturalist philosophy. Hume's philosophy of natural empiricism is an interesting adaptation to Locke's ideas on empiricism, combining the ideas of contemporary science and classical philosophical viewpoints. With both significant supportors and outspoken critics, Hume's philosophical contributions have definitely had considerable