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2015, Oxford Studies in Metaphysics
AI
The paper explores Humeanism in metaphysics, particularly the idea that concrete entities are fundamentally independent and loosely connected. It discusses four key theses that align with Hume's views, emphasizing the absence of necessary relations among distinct objects and events. The concluding argument presents a choice for Half-Hearted Humeans between accepting a full Humean position or abandoning the framework altogether, highlighting the implications of their metaphysical stance.
Hume Studies, 2005
Hume's Copy Principle, which accords precedence to impressions over ideas, is restricted to simple perceptions. Yet in all the conceptual analyses Hume conducts by attempting to fit an impression to a (putative) idea, he never checks for simplicity. And this seems to vitiate the analyses: we cannot conclude from the lack of a preceding impression that a putative idea is bogus, unless it is simple. In this paper I criticise several attempts to account for Hume's seemingly cavalier attitude, and offer one of my own.
The Moon Points Back (eds) Yasuo Deguchi, Jay Garfield, Graham Priest and Koji Tanaka, 2015
Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science, 2017
Toby Handfield has advanced a subtle form of dispositionalism that purports to reconcile the concept of causal powers with broadly Humean convictions by dissolving the requirement for objectively modal relations between powers and their manifestations. He suggests we should identify manifestations with certain types of causal processes, and identify powers with properties that are parts of their structures. The modal features of causal powers can then be explained in terms of internal relations between a power and the property of being a certain type of causal process, but these relations are supervenient and do not add anything to the basic ontology. In this way, causal powers may be 'connected' to their manifestations without admitting objectively modal relations. I disagree with this characterisation of causal powers and its identification of manifestations with types of causal processes: I question the assumption that causal processes can be isolated in quantum physics in the way Handfield requires and confront Humean dispositionalism with the problem of individuating powers in an entangled world.
Why I'm not a Humean, 2021
There is an inconsistency between the access we have to our conscious lives and the Humean thesis of causal generalism. This was first drawn attention to by John Hawthorne, whose argument withstands a number of objections. Nevertheless, it has weaknessess. The first premise must be weakened if Humeans are to be compelled to accept it, and consequently, the second premise will have to be stronger to retain validity. I shore up the case against Humeanism by providing revised premises along with new defences of them. I show why this also provides a lesson for non-Humeans about the epistemology of causal relations. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper aims to demonstrate the characteristics and direction of knowledge that David Hume legitimizes from his spatial and chronological standpoint by discussing how Hume projects a topology of reality. It is from the notion that one's surroundings affect very well the generation of ideas that Hume's view of space and time becomes significant. Hence, this discussion attempts to present a more coherent and specific organization of Humean empiricism by relating it to how he characterizes physical reality.
Philosophers' Imprint, 2023
The European Legacy, 2013
This article shows that in 1.4.2.15-24 of the Treatise of Human Nature, Hume presents his own position on objects, which is to be distinguished from both the vulgar and philosophical conception of objects. Here, Hume argues that objects that are effectively imagined to have a “perfect identity” are imagined due to the constancy and coherence of our perceptions (what we may call ‘level 1 constancy and coherence’). In particular, we imagine that objects cause such perceptions, via what I call ‘indirect causation.’ In virtue of imagining ideas of objects that have a perfect identity, our perceptions seem to be even more constant and coherent (what we may call ‘level 2 constancy and coherence’). Thus, in addition to seeing that Hume is presenting his own position on objects in this section of the Treatise, we see that he is working with a previously unrecognized kind of causation, i.e., indirect causation, and that he has two kinds of constancy and coherence in mind: level 1 and level 2.
Hume Studies, 25.1-2, 1999, 155-170., 1999
The present essay will proffer the thesis that Hume's arguments against the infinite divisibility of both extension and time ground his epistemology in a speculatively realist ontology. The primary merit of such arguments is the 'stuff' they give to Hume's world of sense: extended simples contiguously arranged in a given instant. The adequate idea of extension and time extends the principles of contiguity to such a degree that it can be demonstrated to ground, albeit speculatively, the possibility of experiencing the conjunction between similar objects at all and the habitual inferences formed therefrom. I will argue that while such a speculative enterprise pushes the boundaries of Hume's epistemic limitations, it does not "exceed the original stock of ideas furnished by the internal and external senses." (EHU,5.10). The principle of contiguity furnishes custom with a speculative idea of the real stuff that must exist in order for custom to make its inferential conjunctions.
Hume's Dictum (HD) says, roughly and typically, that there are no metaphysically necessary connections between distinct, intrinsically typed, entities. HD plays an influential role in metaphysical debate, both in constructing theories and in assessing them. One should ask of such an influential thesis: why believe it? Proponents do not accept Hume's arguments for his dictum, nor do they provide their own; however, some have suggested either that HD is analytic or that it is synthetic a priori (that is: motivated by intuitions we have no good reason to question). Here I explore whether belief in HD is directly justified on either grounds. I motivate and present more formal characterizations of HD; I show that there are good prima facie cases to be made for HD's being analytic and for its being synthetic a priori; I argue that each of the prima facie cases fails, some things considered. I close by offering two suggestions for how belief in HD might be indirectly justified on argumentative grounds.
My topic in this paper is Hume’s claim that we have no idea of a vacuum. I offer a novel interpretation of Hume’s account of both our ideas of extension and our ideas of distance that makes it clear how these two kinds of ideas differ, and why neither kind can include any ideas of vacuums. An upshot of Hume’s account, I argue, is his commitment to a view I call “perceptual relationism.” Perceptual relationism is a fundamental characteristic of Hume’s “universe of the imagination”, and a manifestation of just how “loose and separate” the constituents of that inner universe are. Understanding perceptual relationism is a key to understanding Hume’s intended contribution to foundational disputes in the natural philosophy of his time.
Springer: The New Synthese Historical Library, 2013
This book provides the first comprehensive account of Hume’s conception of objects in Book I of the Treatise. What, according to Hume, are objects? Ideas? Impressions? Mind-independent objects? All three? None of the above? Through a close textual analysis, Rocknak shows that Hume thought that objects are imagined ideas. But, she argues, he struggled with two accounts of how and when we imagine such ideas. On the one hand, Hume believed that we always and universally imagine that objects are the causes of our perceptions. On the other hand, he thought that we only imagine such causes when we reach a “philosophical” level of thought. This tension manifests itself in Hume’s account of personal identity; a tension that, Rocknak argues, Hume acknowledges in the Appendix to the Treatise. As a result of Rocknak’s detailed account of Hume’s conception of objects, we are forced to accommodate new interpretations of, at least, Hume’s notions of belief, personal identity, justification and causality.
Panel Talk (“Hume: Mind and World” with Anik Waldow (University of Sydney) and Angela Coventry (Portland State University)); 45th International Hume Society Conference, Hungarian Academy of the Sciences, Budapest, Hungary , 2018
I’m going to take this brief amount of time to sketch Hume’s notion of “reality,” as it is presented in 1.3.9 of the Treatise. Although there is much interest in Hume’s metaphysics, this account tends to be overlooked (with some exceptions, e.g. Kemp Smith 1941 ; Owen 1999 ; Loeb 2002) .
An Enquiry Concerning Humean Understanding: A Criticism of Hume's Conception of Causal Events In An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, Hume provides an empirical account of knowledge that hinges upon the Copy Principle. The Copy Principle states that for every idea there is a corresponding impression or set of impressions that gives rise to the idea itself or its component ideas. With this foundation, Hume criticizes the idea that we have access to causation as the necessary connection between cause and effect. Considering the collision of two billiard balls, Hume identifies no sensory impression from which we copy our notion of causation. Therefore, he concludes that we perceive nothing in the collision that necessitates the outcome,
The Humean Mind eds A. Coventry and A. Sager (Routledge), 2019
Hume’s understanding of the external world, particularly, his conception of objects, or what he occasionally refers to as “bodies,” is the subject of much dispute. Are objects mind-independent? Or, are they just what we see, feel, smell, taste, or touch? In other words, are objects just sense data? Or, are they ideas about sense data? Or, are objects, somehow, mind-independent, but we have ideas of them, and we receive sense data from them? In this paper, I provide some answers to these questions—by way of distinguishing between the vulgar position, the philosophical position, and Hume’s position.
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