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David Hume. Hume on Himself. “My principles … would produce almost a total alteration in philosophy: and you know, revolutions of this kind are not easily bought.”. Hume’s Grave.
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Hume on Himself • “My principles … would produce almost a total alteration in philosophy: and you know, revolutions of this kind are not easily bought.”
Hume’s Grave • “Both ancient and modern philosophers have been guilty of optimistic and exaggerated claims for the power of reason.”
Dogmatic Rationalism • “Our beliefs about ultimate truth are not based on reason or the understanding, but on feeling, imagination and custom.”
The Problem with Abstraction • The word “cat” as an abstraction allows us to talk about cats as if they were one thing when actually they are all different.”
Edinburgh, Scotland • What Hume wants is synthetic knowledge, that is, knowledge that corresponds with experience.
The Problem of Knowledge • “So “causality” proved to have the same status as “material substance” and “God.” This embarrassment has far-reaching consequences.”
Summary • “Hume believed he had shown that human life was incompatible with rationality and that human endeavors always had to be extrarational, hence irrational.”
Summary Russell: “Hume represents, in a certain sense, a dead end; in his direction, it is impossible to go further. To refute him has been ever since a favorite pastime.”