The Foundation of Inferences from Experience
In philosophy, particular importance is given to such an aspect as knowledge and to what extent individuals can claim it. Many philosophers paid attention to the study of such an aspect as the reason for securing knowledge; however, David Hume had a more skeptical point of view and enlightened his work on the research of considering induction and cause and effect.
The Limits of Past Experience in Predicting the Future
When analyzing Hume’s words regarding the denial that the future is resuming the past, it becomes evident that, in the author’s opinion, a person cannot be sure that what happened in the past will have any meaning and contribution to what will happen in the future (Wireless Philosophy, 2014). This criticism is aimed at challenging such a principle in philosophy as induction. Moreover, Hume emphasizes that experience uniquely influences people’s prediction or concluding future events.
Evaluating Hume’s Argument
Based on the knowledge I have gained, I can say that I cannot entirely agree with the point of view presented by the philosopher. This is primarily due to the evaluation of Hume’s arguments, which showed that he completely denies such an essential aspect as scientific progress. In other words, the philosopher is talking about the sacredness of nature and that individuals cannot learn the nature of bodies from experience, although this has been proven not to be true.
In addition, my disagreement with Hume is also facilitated by the fact that induction has proven to be a beneficial approach in this field of knowledge and cannot be regarded as useless or unnecessary. Hume also denies necessary causation and points out, but I do not find this argument completely convincing. Despite its validity, the author denies the possibility that past events may affect the future. When communicating with the classmate, we concluded that we could not agree with the philosopher’s statement because he denied induction and the connection between the past and the future.
Reference
Wireless Philosophy. (2014). Epistemology: Hume’s skepticism and induction part 2 [Video]. YouTube. Web.