Essay 3 Given what we know or can safely assume to be true of animal brains and behaviors, do animals actually exhibit thought and reason? The answer depends in large measure on one’s definition of thought and reason. Philosophers René Descartes and David Hume hold conflicting views about the nature and possession of thought and reason and, as a result, offer starkly different arguments for and against the existence of thought and reason in animals. While Descartes maintains in Part Five of Discourse on Method that only humans are capable of conscious thought, Hume asserts that human and animal behaviors are not so different in Section Nine of his An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.…
Most individuals generally like to think of themselves as moral human beings. They often directly link their moral judgments to reason alone. However, in the 18th century, Hume made the suggestion that moral judgments could be based on emotions rather than unadulterated reason. In his Moral Philosophy, Hume argues that moral distinctions are not derived from reason, but rather determined by moral emotions: feelings of approval, or disgust felt by spectators who contemplate a moral trait or action (Owen, 1992). Moral judgments find their foundation in an assessment of actions of people with respect to the set of merits ingrained in their society (Haidt, 2001).…
He feels as if there was no “constant”, but instead, a casual contact among perceptions. Locke, however, feels that consciousness is what ties together the mind and body In conclusion, both John Locke and David Hume had interesting ideas on self-identity. While still having credible observations, I feel that Hume, in not accepting anything more than a bundle of impressions, left out much of the human experience, such that when the human is studied solely on a scientific level, without thought to his emotional being, much is left out and misunderstood.…
In Emerson’s essay “Nature”, Emerson looks beyond the simple visuals of the woods and explores how his connection with Nature grants him enhanced perception of his existence, and how he himself is encompassed and uplifted by the existence that is Nature. Emerson While remembering his transcendental walk through the forest, Emerson writes, “There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which Nature cannot repair. ”(Emerson’s “Nature”) Emerson feels invincible in this moment due to his current independence from society bequeathed upon him by Nature.…
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.…
Hume delivers convincing arguments against both the Ontological and Design Arguments by using his distinction between matters of…
Second-order volitions are inadequate for defining the concept of a person. In this paper, I argue that Hume would disagree with Frankfurt, in that a person is to be identified with her second-order volitions, because human action is inconstant and manipulated by temporary feelings. American Philosopher, Harry G. Frankfurt, claimed that second-order volitions defined the concept of a person. He said that it is the want to have the ‘desire’. I will now explain what he meant of this.…
Philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume have similar but also contrasting views on the nature and existence of external objects. Descartes said that God is not a deceiver. His view about external objects, is that God created and gave him reasoning that lets him know that his ideas come from external things. Meaning that external objects have to exist because if they did not, that would mean that God was a deceiver, which is not true.…
David Hume was one of the most influential philosophers of his time and continues to be mentioned and studies to this day. Almost equally as impressive was the response that philosopher Immanuel Kant had to his Inquiry of Human Understanding. Kant attempted to respond to Hume’s ideas and in this essay, I will identify the Hume’s beliefs behind the concepts such as cause, and effect and I will later defend Kant’s response to Hume. He raises points that leave his reader with a deeper understanding of his concept and explicitly outlines his beliefs on the concepts that Hume covers in his Human Inquiry.…
In an attempt to make his case for these claims, Hume advances what we now call the justice argument. The basic idea is…
Two of the most intriguing schools of philosophy are the two which deal specifically with epistemology, or, what is better known as the origin of knowledge. Although they are not completely opposite of one another, they are argued in depth by two of the most famous philosophers in history. The origins of study in rationalism and empiricism can be found in the 17th century, during a time when various significant developments were made in the fields of astronomy and mechanics. These advancements undoubtedly led to the questions that probed the sudden philosophical argument: What do we truly know? Many people throughout history began to question whether science was really providing them with the true knowledge of reality.…
In Section II, Of the Origin of Ideas, he states the difference “By the term impression, then, I mean all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned.” After making this clear distinction, Hume offers a thought experiment as a potential counterexample to his own view that all simple ideas are copies of impressions. Hume’s famous “missing shade of blue” example is introduced to show that it is at least conceivable that the mind can generate an idea without first being exposed to the relevant sensory experience. This is a problem for philosophers because it appears to contradict what Hume had previously written.…
As time passes, knowledge becomes more complex and philosophers start to develop different theories regarding how people come about this knowledge. There is a distinct difference between both Rationalism and Empiricism and both Descartes and Locke have found ways to discredit and support both views. Descartes argument towards Rationalism is much stronger than Hume's argument towards Empiricism. There is quite the distinction between both empiricism and rationalism. The major difference between rationalism and empiricism concerns their knowledge basis.…
David Hume once said, “ Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions.” He wrote this in his book Treatise on Human Nature. Hume was obsessed with learning about how people obtain knowledge. The answer is quite simple, through experience. We all entered this world as an infant; we had to learn what behavior was expected of us and what we were expected to give in return all through experience.…
Causality is the structure of cause and effect, the relationship completely. For A must come before B, A being the cause and B the effect. This is one of the necessary conditions that need to be met, for causation to be applicable. At least three, need to be met altogether, such as temporal priority over cause and effect, and continuity. These conditions also have to happen at the same time, or it is not credible.…