Module 5

Set Text - An Enquiry Concerning Human        

               Understanding

               Sections II to VIII

                Oxford University Press

                ISBN 0-19-875248-2

The relation between impressions and ideas; what Hume means by these terms. The principles of association and what they are intended to explain. The distinction between relations of ideas and matters of fact (Hume's 'fork') - the scope of each. The nature of belief and imagination, the nature of the difference between them. The analysis of causation in terms of constant conjunction - the role of custom and repetition. Hume's definitions of .cause.. The idea of necessary connection and the search for its origin - Hume's solution to the problem. The attempt to reconcile free-will and determinism; the diagnosis of the nature of the problem, Hume's account of what is meant by 'liberty' and 'necessity'.

A key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment,

Hume's empiricism paved the way for

modern science

Francis Bacon

Father of empiricism.

Lord Chancellor under James I

Died as a result of a refrigeration experiment.

"Knowledge is power."

John Locke

Another major figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.

Described the infant human mind as a 'tabula rasa' (blank slate).

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common."