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Class Responses and Instructor Comments

>From MILDRED FERENTINO:

"The only immediate utility of all sciences, is to teach us how to control and regulate future events by their causes. Our thoughts and enquiries are therefore every moment employed about this relation: Yet so imperfect are the ideas which we form concerning it, that it is impossible to give any just definition of cause, except what is drawn from something extraneous and foreign to it." Pg 51

>rm says: This says that we can't define causes. But he does (elsewhere) provide a kind of "Humean" formulation, which I called a psychologistic, or mental, definition.

>From Avrohom:

we get the definition of 'cause' through the repetition of the same event. if i were to drop a book once, it wouldnt be enough of an experiment to know me letting go is the cause and the bok falling the effect. by definition, i would have to do this many times to see, maybe something changed.

>rm says: Hume uses the phrase 'constant conjunction', which would be useful here.

>From Eddie:

an object followed by another, and where all the objects similar to the first, are followed by objects similar to the second.

>rm says: This is good.

Hume Reading Guide 37. How does Hume attempt to define cause?		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 MILDRED FERENTINO: "The only immediate utility of all sciences, is to teach us how to control and regulate future events by their causes. Our thoughts and enquiries are therefore every moment employed about this relation: Yet so imperfect are the ideas which we form concerning it, that it is impossible to give any just definition of cause, except what is drawn from something extraneous and foreign to it." Pg 51 >rm says: This says that we can't define causes. But he does (elsewhere) provide a kind of "Humean" formulation, which I called a psychologistic, or mental, definition. >From Avrohom: we get the definition of 'cause' through the repetition of the same event. if i were to drop a book once, it wouldnt be enough of an experiment to know me letting go is the cause and the bok falling the effect. by definition, i would have to do this many times to see, maybe something changed. >rm says: Hume uses the phrase 'constant conjunction', which would be useful here. >From Eddie: an object followed by another, and where all the objects similar to the first, are followed by objects similar to the second. >rm says: This is good.
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