David Humes Thoughts On Empiricism Essay Example for Free

David Humes Thoughts On charlatanism EssayOne of the approximately notable figures in the history of western philosophy was Scottish philosopher David Hume. Hume was widely known for his views on luridness. Empiricism has been pondered since the beginnings of philosophy by human beingy famous figures, from Aristotle to John Locke. (Wikipedia) Empiricism claims that human knowledge is founded on reflection and use of the five senses. Hume published a literary work titled Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. This had a profound impact on empiricist philosophy. (Heter)In section 2 of the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, titled Of the short letter of Ideas, Hume makes distinctions about impressions and ideas. only when stating how a memory obtained from the central nervous system can neer tense the level of raw, vividness that the original impression had made. An example of this concept can be something along the lines of experiencing palliate fall. We have all e xperienced free fall at some point in our lives. Simply recalling that moment can never fully allow us to grasp the gut wrenching inflammation of pure gravity.An interesting thought brought forward in section 2 is The Copy Principle. Hume states But though our thought seems to possess this unbounded liberty, we shall find, upon a nearer examination, that it is substantively confined within very peg limits, and that all this creative power of the mind amounts to no more than the faculty of compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing the materials afforded us by the senses and real life experience(Enquiry, division II) In laymans terms, imagination of the human mind susceptibility be perceived as limitless.However, inreality, it is really a junto of sensory information and real life experiences. To this end, Hume believes that there are no truly original ideas. Everything we can conceive is a repeat or modification of material afforded to us by our surroundings. Exampl es of this can be found all near us. Such as the design of a plane matching the shape of a bird or Velcro behaving as burdock burrs. (Bloomberg) An interesting point Hume brings to our attention is the Blind Man Argument. Hume claims that a mortal born blind has no notions of what color is.If you grant that individual the ability to see, you present him with a rising channel for ideas. Without this inlet, he would have no idea what color is. Therefore, color must come from the senses. (Enquiry, Section II) One energy object to Humes copy principle by stating that original ideas are created quite frequently. A perfect example of this is the telephone. There was no object in the known universe that was able to have a bun in the oven encoded sound waves through electrical wire over vast distances to a receiver before the telephone.This cheat came into existence through pure innovation. The blind man argument presents an error. Just because a blind man cannot make an association b etween the word red and the color red doesnt mean that they have never seen it before. Perhaps the man has seen the color red countless times in his dreams. However, without having another individual name the same color and help him form the association between the word and the color, the blind man go away never know what red means.Countering my objection to The Copy Principle, all the natural resources we are afforded on estatecan be combined, transformed or restructured to create something else. Basically, everything we have created can be broken land to the raw materials found within our environment. This makes it impossible to create something truly new. The telephone is simply a combination of oil, copper, aluminum, silicone, ect. In defense of The Blind Man Argument, people born without the ability to see, claim they see nothing. They might understand how the color spectrum works but they will never be able to sense what the effective color looks like.For one to know the answer to this debate, he or she have the ability to see and be blind at the same time. Hume certainly brings up some interesting concepts. For this reason, scholars have been studying his ideas for centuries. Empiricism and rationalism are in constant disagreement. Both philosophical notions are extremely hard to disprove. working Cited Hennighausen, Amelia, and Eric Roston. 14 Smart Inventions Inspired by Nature Biomimicry Nature as RD Lab. Bloomberg. com. Bloomberg, 19 Aug. 2013. Web. 20 Sept. 2013.Heter, T. Storm. Empiricism. front Philosophy A Handbook for Beginning Philosophers. N. p. n. p. , n. d. 15-21. Print. Hume, David. Section II Of the Origin of Ideas. An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. N. p. n. p. , 1784. N. pag. Print. Wikipedia contributors. David Hume. Wikipedia, The assuage Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 21 Sep. 2013. Wikipedia contributors. Empiricism. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyc lopedia, 15 Sep. 2013. Web. 21 Sep. 2013.