PHL244H5 Lecture 10: Human Nature Week 5 Lect 10 - Hume Continued
Document Summary
Hume distinguishes two types of reasoning (in a broad sense; his vocabulary is very fluid): relations of ideas (reasoning in a narrow sense, matters of fact. If there"s self-contradictory aspects to something, it"s likely relations of ideas. Hume also says try to conceive its denial; for example, 2+2=4. If there"s room for denial, it"s likely relations of ideas. If we want to know the way the world is, where the ideas do not tell us anything, we look; we investigate; we inquire. We do this all the time; we say that this is the cause of this effect. It"s on the basis of this relation that we do precisely what hume is interested in; we draw conclusions about the way the world is where we can"t at present confirm the way the world is. Hume is going to claim that this is a relation of ideas in a way, and in a way it isn"t.
