David Hume - Skepticism

The Nature of Skepticism

A skeptic is ultimately vindicated, as their refusal to accept anything on faith makes them intellectually invulnerable.

Key Insights:

  • Absolute certainty is unattainable.
  • Skeptics win by questioning assumptions and avoiding blind adherence to rules.
  • Methodology must be transparent and reproducible, with representative samples and properly applied statistical methods.

Empiricism and Knowledge

David Hume’s empiricism asserts that all knowledge stems from experience, rejecting innate ideas or rational intuition.

  • Empirical studies on infants suggest that some basic cognitive abilities (e.g., understanding gravity and counting) exist from birth.
  • Such findings do not refute Hume’s empiricism but rather complement it, indicating that knowledge develops through experience and adaptation.

Hume argued that when a person is born blind or deaf, not only are their sensory impressions lost, but also the associated ideas, leaving no trace of either in the mind.

The Problem of Causality

Hume proposed that:

  • Causality is not directly observable—we only see sequences of events and infer a connection.
  • Our expectations that the future will resemble the past are based on habit, not logical proof.
  • The notion of cause and effect arises from repetition, not from any direct perception of causality itself.

The Problem of Induction

Hume’s problem of induction highlights a major flaw in reasoning:

  • Inductive conclusions lack logical justification—they assume that past patterns will continue into the future.
  • While experience-based reasoning is practically useful, it is not logically certain.

Evolutionary Perspective:

  • Inductive reasoning likely evolved as an adaptive survival strategy—helping humans make quick decisions with limited information in uncertain environments.
  • However, modern applications of these cognitive shortcuts can lead to errors, such as:
    • Confirmation bias – selectively accepting information that supports existing beliefs.
    • Illusory correlation – perceiving connections between unrelated events.

Hume on Morality and Religion

  • Hume divided philosophy into speculative and practical disciplines.
  • Morality, being a practical philosophy, influences human emotions and actions rather than remaining in the realm of passive reasoning.
  • He criticized religion for relying on tradition and authority rather than empirical evidence.

Hume’s Guillotine (Is-Ought Problem):

  • You cannot derive an "ought" from an "is".
  • Descriptive statements (facts) do not logically lead to prescriptive statements (moral obligations).

Conclusion

David Hume’s skepticism remains a cornerstone of modern philosophy, challenging assumptions about knowledge, causality, and morality. His work reminds us that certainty is an illusion, and true wisdom lies in recognizing the limits of human understanding while remaining open to evidence-based reasoning.