HQ15

Class Responses and Instructor Comments

>From Avrohom:

our past experiences give us only 'direct and certain' knowledge and information, only pertaining to those past experiences. but our past experiences cannot 'predict' the future (even if one thinks that the same premisis are happening now, as before) bec. even if one part of the future experience would be different, the conlcusion would be thrown off, giving us something totally diff. than what happened before.

>rm says: I think the problem is different. It's not that the circumstances could be different, but that even if the circumstances were the same, the causal laws from which we are shielded could change and our predictions, even if well-Sgrounded on the basis of our experience, would fail.

>From eddie:

All that experience ever shows is that one regularity follows another or in other words where, if the first object had not been, the second never had existed. We are supposing that what has always happened in the past will go on happening in the future and there can be no guarantee that it will. There is no conclusive argument independent of experience to show that the future must go on like the past, and of course there can't be any guarantee of that in experience.

>rm says: Good.

Hume Reading Guide 15. What information does past experience give us? What does it not give us?		Back to Hume Reading Guide Back to Philosophy 101 Home Next Question
Enter your response to the above question, or to a previous response, in the form below, or use this email link. I will post your response on the right, and comment if I think I can be helpful. When emailing, instead of using the form, please indicate the question number. When using the form below, if you neglect to enter your name or email, I won't know who you are.	Class Responses and Instructor Comments >From Avrohom: our past experiences give us only 'direct and certain' knowledge and information, only pertaining to those past experiences. but our past experiences cannot 'predict' the future (even if one thinks that the same premisis are happening now, as before) bec. even if one part of the future experience would be different, the conlcusion would be thrown off, giving us something totally diff. than what happened before. >rm says: I think the problem is different. It's not that the circumstances could be different, but that even if the circumstances were the same, the causal laws from which we are shielded could change and our predictions, even if well-Sgrounded on the basis of our experience, would fail. >From eddie: All that experience ever shows is that one regularity follows another or in other words where, if the first object had not been, the second never had existed. We are supposing that what has always happened in the past will go on happening in the future and there can be no guarantee that it will. There is no conclusive argument independent of experience to show that the future must go on like the past, and of course there can't be any guarantee of that in experience. >rm says: Good.
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