The Scottish Philosopher, David Hume explains that there is a “Standard of Taste”. He describes that this standard of taste by establishing the rule that the good critic needs strong sense. A certain expertise is developed by a critic through a lot of practice in comparison in a particular area. Hume would respond to the Bouguereau painting, “The Thank Offering”, as a form of bad art. While Solomon would defend this painting by stating, “it is the sentimentality of kitsch that makes kitsch kitsch”.…
Hume begins his argument by asserting that animals, just like humans, learn from experience and come to infer causal connections between events. Hume describes this principle by saying: “[animals] become acquainted with the more obvious properties of eternal objects, and gradually, from their birth, treasure up a knowledge of the nature of fire, water, earth, stones, heights, depths, &c. and of the effect, which result from their operation” (Hume, 70). In order to illustrate his point, Hume cites several examples: horses learn what heights they can safely leap, and dogs learn to fear the sight of a whip (Hume, 70). Furthermore, Hume claims that non-human animals certainly do not learn to make these inferences by means of reason or argument.…
1. Last semester I took an Applied Ethics class and one of the philosophers we discussed was Peter Singer who is a utilitarian who believes in maximizing good and minimize harm and suffering. While Singer holds no firm religious belief in his adult life, he understands not all evil can be prevented but as humans we can do our part by at least minimizing it. His theory is, if you see a child drowning in a pond you should save the child. Like Singer, David Hume struggled with the idea of God existing since there is pain and suffering.…
It is the will that makes psychological causation qualitatively different from physical causation. Since intentions are willfully created they cannot be predicted or understood in terms of physical causation. Another factor that makes the prediction of psychological events impossible is the principle of the heterogony of ends, which states a goal-directed activity seldom attains its goal and nothing else. Something unexpected usually happens that changes one's entire motivational pattern. Wundt also maintained that opposite experiences intensify one another, which is called the principle of contrasts.…
Copy Principle: Prompt One David Hume, in the book, “An Enquiry of Human Understanding,” denies the thought that ideas are innate or come from within us. Instead, he claims that all ideas, when they are first experienced are derived or duplicated from simple impressions or world experiences. This is known as Hume’s Copy Principle. To prove his hypothesis, Hume divides his argument into two sections.…
In David Hume’s Of Scepticism With Regard to The Senses, he gives his reasons for believing that we cannot truly accept our existence based on our senses or our knowledge. He states that most of our beliefs come from empirical knowledge, and can be misinterpreted. He then goes on to describe why he believes this is, and how we use this “knowledge” every day without realizing it. In his example with the senses, he states that our senses are unable to prove the idea of our continued existence.…
To begin Hume mentions there are 3 different type of senses. The first sense is things with size, shape, motion, and mass. The second sense is things with color, taste, smell, temperature, and sound. The third sense is things that cause pain and pleasure. These senses produce the opinion of a continued or of a distinct existence.…
David Hume’s belief that morality is based on sentiment can be defined by the feelings of approval and disapproval one will have when they act. Hume argues that reason cannot discover moral truths but that sentiment is the basis of morality. I agree with Hume in the sense that one needs a feeling of approval or disapproval in order to motivate an action. Hume presents the argument that one's feelings is the basis of morality and that reasons, not reason alone, which is defined to be a cause or justification on why one may act, can not be the basis of morality solely because reason is already proved and can not be changed by influence.…
There has been a dispute in philosophy for centuries, over morals and what drives human beings to act upon them. David Hume’s, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, discuses his ideas of how reasoning and sentiment play their role in mankind’s motivation. Though he agrees both sides have extremely sound arguments, Hume believes one has a larger influence over the other. He does this by analyzing mental qualities; also know as personal merit, discussing the importance of benevolence, utility, and justice. Through this, Hume is able to argue his philosophy of moral theory.…
Also, as Hume believed that cause and effect are discoverable not by a priori reasoning, but instead, through human experience of events in the world, his theory of causation focuses primarily on the contents of the category Matters of Fact (Hume, 2007, p. 20 ; Coventry, 2010, p. 90). Hume begins his discussion of cause and effect in the Enquiry by introducing his well-known thought experiment using billiard-balls. In this example, he firstly discusses the idea that if someone we to suddenly come into existence in this world and have no experience of how the world is, and then found themselves observing a billiard-ball sitting stationary upon a flat surface. Hume states that most people would likely assume that they would at this point know what would happen if a second billiard-ball was rolled into the first (Hume, 2007, pp.…
David Hume is concerned with the role of reason which it plays in action and belief in human life throughout his philosophy. Hume simply argues that neither our belief nor actions are determined by reason: in his works he inspects the role of reason in human life. “Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them” . Hume’s principle is that reason is subordinate to passions. Hume presupposes that the faculty of reason does not determine belief and action.…
Much of his influence on philosophy is that what we view as causal relation is in the mind, not in the related things themselves, and furthermore that since the causal relation people view is based upon perception and perception can be flawed, causality is flawed (Butler, 177-178). His idea of rational skepticism goes about to the point of solipsism where, since everything one encounters in life is through the senses which can be fooled, anything encountered cannot be known to truly exist. As such, the only thing in one’s reality that is not encountered is the self, thus it is the only thing one can truly know to exist. As Hume himself wrote “We may, therefore, conclude with certainty, that the opinion of a continued and of a distinct existence never arises from the senses” (Treatise, 1.4.2.11). This metaphysics, or even this filter through which one approaches life is purely philosophical, based on rationality and logic.…
Teresia Smith PH201-I01 September 25, 2015 Hume and the Self Hume felt we should know why we believe what we believe and not just blindly accept that which has been assumed. Because he could not tangibly see or touch it, Hume believed that self did not exist but that our minds were merely a product of our impressions, which he defined as a product of our experiences and also ideas, which he termed copies of our impressions. He believed that every idea we have actually comes from some impression we have experienced. Hume thought that humans believed things out of habit and not with scientific proof.…
This may be hard to comprehend, in fact, Hume put a warning in this section for more calculated minds. Because this is a hard thing to consider. As humans, we strive for knowledge but are confused when the knowledge gives us questions instead of answers. In fact, that's one of the strengths, weakness of Hume's philosophy. He saw that though we want to be logical, feeling control most of our actions, thoughts, and prayers.…
Since the inception of psychology in the United States by American philosopher William James, in the early 1900’s learning and psychology has been joined hand in hand together ever since. Well into the beginning of the twentieth century, learning and education has been monitored closely and connected to psychologists. According to (Domjan, 2014) Learning is one of our most primitive and basic biological mental processes that facilitates our need for survival and promotes personal well-being. Learning is a critical role in life and helps to improve how Homo sapiens and all basic organisms mold and adapt to their ever changing environment. Many times we assume that all our learning consists of unique special training but in fact much of our…