Causes are Known Only Through Experience (Hume)

"The mind can never possibly find the effect in the supposed cause … For the effect is totally different from the cause, and consequently can never be discovered in it." (P 175a)

Examples: P 175a

"In a word, then every effect is a distinct event from its cause. It could not, therefore, be discovered in the cause … And … the conjunction of it with the cause must appear … arbitrary, since there are always many other effects, which, to reason, must seem fully as consistent and natural." (P 175b)


previous list next

Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 14 March 2003