Lecture Notes: Philosophy of David Hume

Key Concepts

Empiricism: Hume is an empiricist, suggesting knowledge comes from sensory experiences.
Meaningful Statements: According to Hume, these are statements capable of being true or false, not just significant or emotionally appealing.
Hume's Fork: A two-fold criteria to determine meaningful statements:
1. Relations of Ideas: Statements true by definition (e.g., mathematics like "2 + 2 = 4"). These are created by humans to understand reality.
2. Matters of Fact: Statements verified through sensory experience (e.g., "There is a tree outside my house").

Hume applies his skepticism to common beliefs, using his criteria to question their rational basis.

Reduction to Sentiment: Hume posits that moral beliefs derive from sentiments or feelings rather than objective truths.
- Example: "Killing is wrong" translates to "I dislike when people get killed."
Challenge to Objective Morality: Traditional moral beliefs are seen as universally true, but Hume argues they are subjective.
Criticism: Many philosophers critique Hume's view on morality, which suggests subjective feeling over objective morality.

Traditional View: Humans are composed of both a physical body and an immaterial essence (soul/spirit).
Hume's Analysis:
- Relation of Idea: The self is not true by definition; it doesn't inherently imply an immaterial essence.
- Sense Experience: There's no sensory evidence of the self as an immaterial substance.
Conclusion: The self is a "bundle of perceptions" – fleeting sensations and experiences rather than an unchanging substance.
- Comparison: Similar view to Buddhism, which denies the existence of a permanent self.

Morality and Self: Hume critiques these beliefs, modifying or rejecting them based on his criteria of meaningfulness.
Rational Basis: Without being a relation of ideas or verifiable through experience, beliefs in objective morality and an immaterial self lack a rational foundation.

In the next lecture, further examples of Hume's skepticism will be explored.