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Single Idea 2209

[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / A. Knowledge / 4. Belief / a. Beliefs ]

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.

Gist of Idea

Belief is stronger, clearer and steadier than imagination

Source

David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], V.II.40)

Book Ref

Hume,David: 'Enquiries Conc. Human Understanding, Morals', ed/tr. Selby-Bigge/Nidditch [OUP 1975], p.49

The 85 ideas from 'Enquiry Conc Human Understanding'

3661 'Natural beliefs' are unavoidable, whatever our judgements [Hume, by Strawson,G]
3902 Hume mistakenly lumps sensations and perceptions together as 'impressions' [Scruton on Hume]
6350 Premises can support an argument without entailing it [Pollock/Cruz on Hume]
8344 At first Hume said qualities are the causal entities, but later he said events [Hume, by Davidson]
15249 Hume never shows how a strong habit could generate the concept of necessity [Harré/Madden on Hume]
8339 Hume's regularity theory of causation is epistemological; he believed in some sort of natural necessity [Hume, by Strawson,G]
4636 All reasoning concerning matters of fact is based on analogy (with similar results of similar causes) [Hume]
13602 We cannot form an idea of a 'power', and the word is without meaning [Hume]
8422 Cause is where if the first object had not been, the second had not existed [Hume]
17712 General ideas are the connection by resemblance to some particular [Hume]
23631 Hume is loose when he says perceptions of different strength are different species [Reid on Hume]
2182 Impressions are our livelier perceptions, Ideas the less lively ones [Hume]
2184 All ideas are copies of impressions [Hume]
2183 We can only invent a golden mountain by combining experiences [Hume]
2185 The idea of an infinite, intelligent, wise and good God arises from augmenting the best qualities of our own minds [Hume]
2186 We cannot form the idea of something we haven't experienced [Hume]
23421 If a person had a gap in their experience of blue shades, they could imaginatively fill it in [Hume]
2187 If we suspect that a philosophical term is meaningless, we should ask what impression it derives from [Hume]
2189 All ideas are connected by Resemblance, Contiguity in time or place, and Cause and Effect [Hume]
3662 Hume says we can only know constant conjunctions, not that that's what causation IS [Hume, by Strawson,G]
2191 Relations of ideas are known by thought, independently from the world [Hume]
2190 All objects of enquiry are Relations of Ideas, or Matters of Fact [Hume]
2192 All reasoning about facts is causal; nothing else goes beyond memory and senses [Hume]
2194 How could Adam predict he would drown in water or burn in fire? [Hume]
2193 No causes can be known a priori, but only from experience of constant conjunctions [Hume]
2195 We can discover some laws of nature, but never its ultimate principles and causes [Hume]
2196 The observation of human blindness and weakness is the result of all philosophy [Hume]
2197 Reason assists experience in discovering laws, and in measuring their application [Hume]
2198 We assume similar secret powers behind similar experiences, such as the nourishment of bread [Hume]
3598 Hume just shows induction isn't deduction [Williams,M on Hume]
2200 All experimental conclusions assume that the future will be like the past [Hume]
2199 Reason cannot show why reliable past experience should extend to future times and remote places [Hume]
2702 Only madmen dispute the authority of experience [Hume]
2201 Induction can't prove that the future will be like the past, since induction assumes this [Hume]
2202 Fools, children and animals all learn from experience [Hume]
2203 If we infer causes from repetition, this explains why we infer from a thousand objects what we couldn't infer from one [Hume]
2204 All inferences from experience are effects of custom, not reasoning [Hume]
2205 You couldn't reason at all if you lacked experience [Hume]
2206 Reasons for belief must eventually terminate in experience, or they are without foundation [Hume]
2208 Belief is just a particular feeling attached to ideas of objects [Hume]
2207 Belief can't be a concept plus an idea, or we could add the idea to fictions [Hume]
2209 Belief is stronger, clearer and steadier than imagination [Hume]
2210 A picture of a friend strengthens our idea of him, by resemblance [Hume]
8544 Hume does not distinguish real resemblances among degrees of resemblance [Shoemaker on Hume]
2211 When I am close to (contiguous with) home, I feel its presence more nearly [Hume]
2212 An object made by a saint is the best way to produce thoughts of him [Hume]
2213 Beliefs are built up by resemblance, contiguity and causation [Hume]
2214 Our awareness of patterns of causation is too important to be left to slow and uncertain reasoning [Hume]
2215 There is no such thing as chance [Hume]
2216 We transfer the frequency of past observations to our future predictions [Hume]
8341 Hume never even suggests that there is no such thing as causation [Hume, by Strawson,G]
2217 When definitions are pushed to the limit, only experience can make them precise [Hume]
2218 In observing causes we can never observe any necessary connections or binding qualities [Hume]
2220 Only experience teaches us about our wills [Hume]
4771 In both of Hume's definitions, causation is extrinsic to the sequence of events [Psillos on Hume]
5194 Hume's definition of cause as constantly joined thoughts can't cover undiscovered laws [Ayer on Hume]
2221 A cause is either similar events following one another, or an experience always suggesting a second experience [Hume]
2222 The doctrine of free will arises from a false sensation we have of freedom in many actions [Hume]
2223 Liberty is merely acting according to the will, which anyone can do if they are not in chains [Hume]
2225 If you deny all necessity and causation, then our character is not responsible for our crime [Hume]
2226 Repentance gets rid of guilt, which shows that responsibility arose from the criminal principles in the mind [Hume]
2224 Praise and blame can only be given if an action proceeds from a person's character and disposition [Hume]
3655 Hume makes determinism less rigid by removing the necessity from causation [Trusted on Hume]
10328 We think testimony matches reality because of experience, not some a priori connection [Hume]
2228 All experience must be against a supposed miracle, or it wouldn't be called 'a miracle' [Hume]
2227 A miracle violates laws which have been established by continuous unchanging experience, so should be ignored [Hume]
2229 To establish a miracle the falseness of the evidence must be a greater miracle than the claimed miraculous event [Hume]
2230 Good testimony needs education, integrity, motive and agreement [Hume, by PG]
2232 You can't infer the cause to be any greater than its effect [Hume]
2233 No government has ever suffered by being too tolerant of philosophy [Hume]
4772 If a singular effect is studied, its cause can only be inferred from the types of events involved [Hume]
2234 It is only when two species of thing are constantly conjoined that we can infer one from the other [Hume]
2235 There is no certain supreme principle, or infallible rule of inference [Hume]
2236 Examples of illusion only show that sense experience needs correction by reason [Hume]
2237 It never occurs to people that they only experience representations, not the real objects [Hume]
2238 Reason can never show that experiences are connected to external objects [Hume]
2239 If secondary qualities (e.g. hardness) are in the mind, so are primary qualities like extension [Hume]
7700 We can't think about the abstract idea of triangles, but only of particular triangles [Hume]
2240 It is a very extravagant aim of the sceptics to destroy reason and argument by means of reason and argument [Hume]
2241 The main objection to scepticism is that no good can come of it [Hume]
2242 Mitigated scepticism draws attention to the limitations of human reason, and encourages modesty [Hume]
2243 Mitigated scepticism sensibly confines our enquiries to the narrow capacity of human understanding [Hume]
2245 A priori it looks as if a cause could have absolutely any effect [Hume]
2246 If books don't relate ideas or explain facts, commit them to the flames [Hume]
2244 It can never be a logical contradiction to assert the non-existence of something thought to exist [Hume]