PHIL 008 Lecture Notes - Lecture 32: Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Moe Williams, Theism
29 Oct 2020
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David hume (1711-1776) - scepticism re cosmological argument. 1) the cosmological argument relies on the notion of causation, which, for him, is not in itself an observable fact. 2) it tries to scale up local" examples of cause and effect, putting them together to add up to" a cause of the universe (= fallacy of composition) As an empiricist, hume"s understanding is that things in the world impress themselves on our senses which go on to become ideas. Rather than being an observable fact, talk of causation is really, for hume, an example of constant conjunction", i. e. of putting two things together: it is not reason but custom," he says. For hume causation is more about causal belief" rather than causal knowledge". The fallacy of composition: in such a chain too, or succession of objects, each part is caused by that which preceded it, and causes that which succeeds it.
