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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page paper discussing the skeptical doubts that Hume presents in Section IV of “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding,” weighed against Hans Reichenbach’s argument that the future will either resemble the past or it will not. Reichenbach’s argument is either/or, and makes no allowance for any advances that may have been made between the past and the future, or Hume’s cause and effect. Reichenbach’s argument does not overcome Hume’s skeptical doubts. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KSphiloHume.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, David Hume (1711-1776) argues that causation does not really exist. Against this backdrop, the purpose here is to determine whether "the following
argument ... overcomes Humes skeptical doubts" Either the future will resemble the past, or it will not. If it does, then obviously it makes sense to base predictions on what
has happened in the past. If the future will not resemble the past, then it still makes sense to base our predictions on the past, because we have nothing better
on which to base them - Hans Reichenbach. Analysis In section IV of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume states, "The contrary of
every matter of fact is still possible; because it can never imply a contradiction ... That the sun will not rise to-morrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies
no more contradiction than the affirmation, that it will rise." There are many examples of how Reichenbachs argument can be valid, and in terms of scientific inquiry, Hume himself
had sufficient reason to assume the same. He published An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding in 1772, at a time when many advances had been accomplished in scientific inquiry, but
long before the development of measurement and observation tools that could provide "proof" of his position. Scientifically, the past certainly did provide a
good indication of the future in the late 18th century. Past as predictor of the future could be seen as being valid socially as well. The relationship between
past and future had begun to weaken as the Industrial Revolution began, and any possible link between the past and future became even more suspect with the passage of time
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