Hume (1711-1776) was a British philosopher, historian, and a famous representative of modern agnosticism. He is the author of "A Theory of Human Nature", "A Study of Human Reason" and "On the Immortality of the Soul" published after his death.
Hume moved from Berkeley's subjective idealism to agnosticism, believing that people can only know what they perceive, and it is impossible to know whether there are objective things. "The only existences that we know for sure are perceptions, and as these perceptions are directly presented to us through consciousness, they have our strongest assent and are the original basis of all our conclusions. What we can infer from the existence of a thing The only conclusion to the existence of another thing is by virtue of a causal relationship, which indicates that there is a connection between the two, and that the existence of one thing depends on the existence of the other. The idea of ??this relationship comes from the past. We find through past experience that two entities are always united and always present simultaneously in the mind. But since no other entity is ever present in the mind except perception, the result is that we A conjunctive or causal relation may be observed between some differentiated perceptions, but such a relation can never be observed between perceptions and objects. "Therefore, "we can never form a statement about the existence of perceptions, or any of their properties. any conclusion about the existence of the object”. Hume believed that causal connection is just a habitual tendency of the human mind. He replaced our past certain knowledge concepts with habits, and believed that our knowledge is only some probable conclusions.
Hume made a distinction between ideas and sensory impressions - "All perceptions (Perceptions) in the human mind may be divided into two apparently different kinds, which I shall call impressions and ideas. The difference between the two is that when they stimulate the mind and enter our thoughts or consciousness, they vary in intensity and vividness. Those perceptions that are strongest and most powerful when they enter the mind can be called impressions. )... As for the term idea, I use it to refer to the feeble images of our feelings, emotions, and emotions in thinking and reasoning..." Ideas are copies of impressions. He classified ideas as "simple Perceptions, that is, simple impressions and ideas, cannot be distinguished or analyzed. Complex perceptions, on the contrary, can be divided into many parts. "Complex ideas are formed by the association of simple ideas. The two laws of association he proposed are. The law of similarity and the law of proximity in space and time. The more similar and close two ideas are, the easier it is for them to form associations. In addition, Hume regards the law of causality as a habit of human experience. "In my opinion, there are only three principles for the connection of ideas. It is 'similarity', 'continuity' in space and time, and 'cause' or 'result'"
Russell considered him to be one of the most important figures among philosophers because "he combined Locke and Baker. Lay's empiricist philosophy reached its logical conclusion, and by making it self-consistent it became something unbelievable. In a sense, he represented a dead end: in his direction, It is impossible to move forward."
About Hume's problem - Hume's problem, that is, whether "should" can be derived from "is". "...But suddenly, I was surprised to find that I What we encounter is no longer the frequent conjunctions such as 'is' and 'is not' in propositions, but there is no proposition that is not connected by a 'should' or a 'should', although this change is unknown. Although it is obvious, it has an extremely important relationship. Because this should or should not represent a new relationship or affirmation, it must be discussed and explained; at the same time, it seems completely incredible, that is, this new relationship. How it can be deduced from completely different relationships should also be explained with reasons."
When Hume summarized his philosophical system, he pointed out that all philosophy can be divided into two categories: natural philosophy and spiritual philosophy. For the most part, scientific philosophical research methods are methods of experiment and observation. Since F. Bacon, philosophers and natural scientists have used this method to establish a system of natural philosophy. However, in terms of spiritual philosophy, it has still not been established. A new system. Hume set himself the task of applying the method of experimental reasoning to directly analyze human nature itself in order to establish a system of spiritual philosophy. He believed that "human nature" itself, which is the basis of this system, consists of two parts. , that is, reason and emotion. His research on "intelligence" is about the discussion of epistemological issues, his research on "emotion" is about the investigation of social ethics and political issues, and his discussion of religious issues is related to both rational principles and emotional principles. . Hume's spiritual philosophy system roughly includes epistemological doctrine, social ethics, political doctrine and religious philosophy doctrine.
In philosophy, he pioneered modern agnosticism, being skeptical of any existence beyond perception, and holding a negative attitude towards the objective regularity and causal inevitability of the external world. He believed that perceptual perception is the only object of knowledge, and perception can be divided into two categories: impression and concept. However, he believed that people could not go beyond perception to solve the problem of the source of perception. Denies the objectivity of causal connection and believes that causal connection is only a concept formed due to the sequence of impressions. In terms of ethics, he advocates utilitarianism and believes that happiness and interests are consistent.
He also used his empiricism, skepticism and utilitarian ethics to discuss the concept of God and religious issues
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