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.
