Combining Philosophers

Ideas for Irenaeus, Charlotte Witt and David Hume

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7 ideas

11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs
Belief is stronger, clearer and steadier than imagination [Hume]
     Full Idea: Belief is nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain.
     From: David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], V.II.40)
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / b. Elements of beliefs
Belief can't be a concept plus an idea, or we could add the idea to fictions [Hume]
     Full Idea: What is the difference between fiction and belief? It can't be a peculiar idea annexed to a conception which commands our assent, and is wanting to fiction, for then the mind could voluntarily annex this idea to any fiction, and believe what it pleases.
     From: David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], V.II.39)
Belief is just a particular feeling attached to ideas of objects [Hume]
     Full Idea: When an object is present to memory or senses, custom carries the imagination to that object which is usually conjoined with it. This carries a feeling different from the loose reveries of fantasy, and in this consists the whole nature of belief.
     From: David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], V.II.39)
11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / d. Cause of beliefs
'Natural beliefs' are unavoidable, whatever our judgements [Hume, by Strawson,G]
     Full Idea: Hume has a doctrine of "natural belief", about the sorts of things we can't help believing, in 'common' or everyday life, irrespective of our philosophical conclusions.
     From: report of David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748]) by Galen Strawson - The Secret Connexion App C
Beliefs are built up by resemblance, contiguity and causation [Hume]
     Full Idea: Belief, where it reaches beyond the memory or senses, arises from resemblance, contiguity or causation, with the same transition of thought and vivacity of conception.
     From: David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], V.II.44)
Belief is a feeling, independent of the will, which arises from uncontrolled and unknown causes [Hume]
     Full Idea: Belief consists merely in a certain feeling or sentiment; in something, that depends not on the will, but must arise from certain determinate causes and principles, of which we are not master.
     From: David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature, + Appendix [1740], Appen p.2)
     A reaction: This is the opposite of Descartes' 'doxastic voluntarism' (i.e. we choose what to believe). If you want to become a Christian, steep yourself in religious literature, and the company of religious people. It will probably work.
11. Knowledge Aims / C. Knowing Reality / 1. Perceptual Realism / c. Representative realism
Hume says objects are not a construction, but an imaginative leap [Hume, by Robinson,H]
     Full Idea: Hume's idea is that we move from private impressions to the physical world, not by an unconscious analytical construction but by a spontaneous imaginative leap.
     From: report of David Hume (Treatise of Human Nature [1739]) by Howard Robinson - Perception IX.6
     A reaction: The idea that objects are 'constructions' seems to have originated with Russell. Hume seems closer to the actual process, which is virtually instantaneous. They both forget that you can follow up the construction or leap with a cool evaluation.