Philosophy: Epistemology
Sources of knowledge according to Hume
According to Hume, we acquire knowledge through ideas which can be from memory or imagination and through impressions either externally or internally. Ideas mostly originate from impacts because the components of an idea is traced to some external or internal feelings. Perceptions only differ on the level of liveliness in that impressions are more vivid than ideas
Opinions are then divided into imagination and memory, which are developed by various mental faculties. Ideas produced by minds come from multiple experiences. For example, a memory of my walk to the park is a comparatively accurate copy of my previous sense impressions of that experience. On the other hand, imagination breaks apart and combines new ideas that do not necessarily exist. The three principles of association, i.e., resemblance, contiguity, and cause, lead to vision.
Complex ideas of imagination are grouped into imaginative ideas developed from fancies such as a golden castle, and creative ideas emerged from solid reasoning such as predicting where a thrown item will fall. Fancy ideas come from fantasies or superstitions. At the same time, sound plans are developed from understanding and can either involve relations of ideas or matters of fact, which are more common truths that we learn from experience.
What we know according to Hume
Our assumptions about the future based on past experiences cannot be justified unless there is a law indicating the future will always look like the past. There is no such law. Therefore, we cannot rationally believe in causation because we base our assumptions on habits and not reason. Meaningful concepts must be reduced to simple impressions on which they are built. We can, therefore, use the assumed connections, but they are limited.
Hume believes in the primitive human belief that we see or hear. The primitive rational theory has, however, modern philosophy has disputed this. We cannot rely on reasoning to convince us that external objects exist. Instead, this belief is non-rational as it is not supported by the relation of ideas or matters of fact. However, faith in the external world is natural and unavoidable.
When it comes to the belief of the self, there is no impression of the person because what I do is a succession of separate individual ideas associated with each other by relations of resemblance and causality. The self is, therefore, just a bundle of perceptions.
Comparing Hume with Plato
Unlike Hume, Plato argues that knowledge is innate, and learning is the development of ideas buried on the soul. There are no newly learned ideas because our souls existed before we’re born. Therefore the ideas are recalled. The experience could not be a source of knowledge since the objects apprehended to it are bound to change.
Plato’s theory of knowledge contains the investigation into the nature of unchanging objects and the discussion of how these objects can be known through reason. Such purposes include the sun, which represents knowledge. Logic discovers the unchanging forms through the method of dialect, which involve a series of question and answer designed to elicit a real definition. This search for meanings forms a quest for knowledge. Therefore, learning involves true belief and is, thus, more than merely real understanding because people may believe that they know something is false.