David Hume: The Nature Of Causation

The philosopher David Hume investigates the nature of causation and how there is no way of humans understanding the necessary connection between cause and effect. This idea of necessary connection is crucial to understanding the logical structure of Hume’s arguments about causation because it is the central power of a cause to produce its corresponding effect. Accordingly, Hume argues that humans can never know the necessary connection between causes and effects because the laws of nature that govern this power are beyond comprehension. Moreover, Hume makes distinctions between what he calls Impressions and Ideas that sheds light on the ways in which ideas come into the mind. Additionally, Hume classifies three types of primary connections that bind all thoughts together, which are termed resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect. In this paper, I will explain these terms and their respective distinctions as well as offer an analysis of Hume’s argument about causation. Thus, David Hume’s philosophical enquiry …show more content…
Hume argues that we can never know of the powers within a cause and how it produces its effect. He demonstrates this fact by showing that even a priori reasons are not sufficient to understanding the necessary connection. Additionally, even experience, which is the basis of Hume’s metaphysics, cannot inform individuals how one billiard ball can move another ball. This is so because humans are confined to the constant conjunction of events. That is to say, the mind begins to anticipate an effect when watching a cause numerous times produce the same results. Thus, this anticipation is a hindrance to grasping the actuality of causation because the mind tries to solve the puzzle of understanding necessary connections by inserting its ideas that were developed from