Hume’s Enquiry
A1: There are two types of perspicacities or mental processes; impressions and ideas. One of the
big ideas presented in the text is that every idea comes from an impression. Hume debates that
any genuine idea must be identified following an initial impression. Outer perceptions are
introduced by sensory organs such as visual and auditory. Internal impressions or perceptions are
the mental happenings correlated with emotions. Ideas are "copies" of impressions. Even when
ideas transpire seemingly concurrently amidst an impression, they are still determined from
them. Impressions are the first mental details of the occurrence, such as what a blanket feels to
the touch or what sound a cow makes; ideas store these impressions. Not all conceptions are
inferred directly from an occurrence. Concepts can transpire within dreams, some can be
inaccurate thoughts, and others emerge from practice or education.
A2: The second key concept is that people possess no hypothesis regarding cause and effect.
According to Hume, the concept of causation is a theory that situations occur in a particular way.
It is a subconscious state that naturally results from reoccurred related happenings. However, no
one can reasonably explain it. Two classifications of rationalizing of ideas are; experiential and
non-experiential reasoning, or inductive and deductive. Inductive thinking usually progresses
from distinct observations to broad inferences concerning something concluded from the
considerations taken concurrently. Hume claims that inductive argumentation creates studies
called "matters of fact" cannot explain the meaning of causation. The framework of experiential
rationalizing is the concept of the causal relationship between an object and a phenomenon.
deductive or non-experimental thinking is no better than inductive thinking when it comes to the
explanation concerning the meaning of causation.
Respectively, we solely need to examine ideas to be able to conclude a connection among them.
B: “It is evident that there is a principle of connexion between the different thoughts or ideas of
the mind, and that, in their appearance to the memory or imagination, they introduce each other
with a certain degree of method and regularity. In our more serious thinking or discourse this is
so observable that any particular thought, which breaks in upon the regular tract or chain of
ideas, is immediately remarked and rejected. And even in our wildest and most wandering
reveries, nay in our very dreams, we shall find, if we reflect, that the imagination ran not
altogether at adventures, but that there was still a connexion upheld among the different ideas,
which succeeded each other. Were the loosest and freest conversation to be transcribed, there
would immediately be observed something which connected it in all its transitions. Or where this
is wanting, the person who broke the thread of discourse might still inform you, that there had
secretly revolved in his mind a succession of thought, which had gradually led him from the
subject of conversation. Among different languages, even where we cannot suspect the least
connexion or communication, it is found, that the words, expressive of ideas, the most
compounded, do yet nearly correspond to each other: a certain proof that the simple ideas,
comprehended in the compound ones, were bound together by some universal principle, which
had an equal influence on all mankind. Though it be too obvious to escape observation, that
different ideas are connected together; I do not find that any philosopher has attempted to
enumerate or class all the principles of association; a subject, however, that seems worthy of
curiosity. To me, there appear to be only three principles of connexion among ideas, namely,
Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause or Effect.” (Hume, 6)
C1: The selected passage portrays vital elements to understanding the book, "An Enquiry
Concerning Human Understanding" By David Hume. The relationship between ideas and
impressions "is evident that there is a principle of connexion ... of the mind, and that, in their
appearance to the memory or imagination, they introduce each other with a certain degree of
method and regularity" (Hume, 6). In this passage, Hume addresses how the mind connects
concepts, "Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause or Effect" (Hume, 6). Two
concepts are related through cause and effect if one idea is always conjoined with another as if it
was pain from a wound. Without these principles, which produce consistency and steadiness,
ideas would be disengaged. The imagination capacity is accountable for ordering, constructing,
and dismantling concepts and continually incorporating some of them.
C2: The excerpted paragraph is the key to understanding the book by explaining the "three
principles of connexion among ideas, namely, Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and
Cause or Effect." (Hume, 6). Impressions and ideas and cause and effect are essential for thought
processes for the human brain, "Among different languages, even where we cannot suspect the
least connexion or communication, it is found, that the words, expressive of ideas, the most
compounded, do yet nearly correspond to each other: a certain proof that the simple ideas,
comprehended in the compound ones, were bound together by some universal principle, which
had an equal influence on all mankind" (Hume, 6). Cause and effect as well as the "three
principles of connexion among ideas" is essential to understand Hume's philosophical writing.
