David Hume is an empiricist. Empiricism is the ideology that all knowledge is obtained through sense experience, or interactions with the world through sight, taste, touch, smell, and sound (Markie, 2017). This school of thought also encompasses a posteriori thinking. The term a posteriori refers to drawing conclusions only after having experienced something through the senses. These are the bases of Hume’s understanding of knowledge and philosophy.
In his work, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume discusses his empiricist theories of knowledge and understanding. His main argument is that all thoughts and conclusions that people draw about the world are derived from two sources: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the experience of information about the world that the senses receive. Impressions are vivacious, forceful, and indubitable. Caused by impressions, ideas are exact copies of impressions. However, they are less vivacious and forceful (Hume, 1999). According to Hume, ideas can only come from impressions, much like knowledge can only come from sense experience. Some ideas may give rise to secondary impressions or sensations, but there must have had to be a fundamental impression. …show more content…
When one thinks of an apple, for example, the red color, round size, smooth skin, sweet taste, and crunchy texture when bitten are all simple impressions. These simple impressions dictate the whole, complete, and complex impression that is the apple. Hume argues that without sense experience, one would not have an impression of the apple. Of course, all impressions are mediated by the senses. Therefore, no impression or idea comes directly from an experience; they are interpretations of the information that is acquired by the
In his work, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume discusses his empiricist theories of knowledge and understanding. His main argument is that all thoughts and conclusions that people draw about the world are derived from two sources: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the experience of information about the world that the senses receive. Impressions are vivacious, forceful, and indubitable. Caused by impressions, ideas are exact copies of impressions. However, they are less vivacious and forceful (Hume, 1999). According to Hume, ideas can only come from impressions, much like knowledge can only come from sense experience. Some ideas may give rise to secondary impressions or sensations, but there must have had to be a fundamental impression. …show more content…
When one thinks of an apple, for example, the red color, round size, smooth skin, sweet taste, and crunchy texture when bitten are all simple impressions. These simple impressions dictate the whole, complete, and complex impression that is the apple. Hume argues that without sense experience, one would not have an impression of the apple. Of course, all impressions are mediated by the senses. Therefore, no impression or idea comes directly from an experience; they are interpretations of the information that is acquired by the