A Consideration of Necessity in the Work of David Hume Essay

A Consideration of Necessity in the Work of David Hume - Essay Example In his Treatise of Human Nature, David Hume delineates his theory of human morality. The form of argument Hume takes is the concept that human morality is not based on coherent thought and logical reason, but is instead the upshot of humanity's passionate fervor. Since this fervor cannot present itself as the creation of logical reason, it would be consequently be the ultimate in the lack of logical thinking to adjudicate any moral deed as being the result of either rational or irrational thought. Hume delivers a succession of explanations that serve to reveal why humanity should express scepticism toward any conclusion based upon reasoning that is arrived at through familiarities based on sensory perception.Hume concludes that even in the face of complexities that are presented by virtue of the illogic inherent in sensory perception, humans still maintain a forcible belief in illogical conclusions due to psychology.This presents the paradoxical notion that strong belief is often gro unded in contradictions.Hume's argument posits that it is even within the realm of possibility that the most grounded and confident reasonable conclusions are, in fact, merely probable and that the degrees of probability are subject to intense scrutiny with each additional analysis. Mistakes made on the basis of supposedly rational certainty are legion due to the inescapable imperfectability of human judgment. The ironic paradox of human judgment resides in the fact that each further analysis of the previous judgment decreases the probability of correctness in the original judgment. This has particularly chilling aspects when considered against the potential for reductions of probability in those elements that humans invest the utmost confidence in regarding the infallibility of correctness, such as laws of mathematics and science. Hume emphasises that there are three stipulations required to confirm merely through observation. The first he termed the aspect of constant conjunction, in which the cause and the effect are required to be both spatially and constantly extant. The second stipulates that the cause must have come before the effect itself. And finally, there must be a connection of necessity; that is it must be possible to ascertain why the cause produces the effect. Hume's appraisal of causation necessarily dictates that it can only be inferred and not examined and his conclusions indicate that it is impossible to achieve an impression of a necessary connection; rather, one must experience constant conjunction and temporal priority: "Experience only teaches us how one event constantly follows another, without instructing us in the secret connection which binds them together" (Hume, 1870, p. 347). Ultimately, Hume asserts that there are significant limitations to reason. Hume maintains that humans remain convinced that any object that is observed exists independently. Once this belief is subject to analysis, however, it is determined to be without basis and that paradox provides a basis for conflict in the process of reasonable determination. All perceptions are dependent upon human observation and even the slightest modification in the senses can distort that perception. Since this is one of the few absolute truths that exists, it is not logical to assume that perception can be something existing independently of us, nor can it possibly exist when there is nobody there to perceive it. Despite this Hume asserts that people will almost never surrender their natural belief in the existence of an external world that is separate from their perceptions. The