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Single Idea 6962
[filed under theme 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / b. Teleological Proof
]
Full Idea
By supposing something to contain the principle of its order within itself, we really assert it to be God; and the sooner we arrive at that divine being, so much the better.
Gist of Idea
The thing which contains order must be God, so see God where you see order
Source
David Hume (Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion [1751], Part 4)
Book Ref
Hume,David: 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' [Penguin], p.72
The
217 ideas
from David Hume
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]
|
2182
|
Impressions are our livelier perceptions, Ideas the less lively ones
[Hume]
|
23631
|
Hume is loose when he says perceptions of different strength are different species
[Reid on Hume]
|
2183
|
We can only invent a golden mountain by combining experiences
[Hume]
|
2184
|
All ideas are copies of impressions
[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]
|
2199
|
Reason cannot show why reliable past experience should extend to future times and remote places
[Hume]
|
2200
|
All experimental conclusions assume that the future will be like the past
[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]
|
2204
|
All inferences from experience are effects of custom, not reasoning
[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]
|
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]
|
2207
|
Belief can't be a concept plus an idea, or we could add the idea to fictions
[Hume]
|
2208
|
Belief is just a particular feeling attached to ideas of objects
[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]
|
2224
|
Praise and blame can only be given if an action proceeds from a person's character and disposition
[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]
|
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]
|
2227
|
A miracle violates laws which have been established by continuous unchanging experience, so should be ignored
[Hume]
|
2228
|
All experience must be against a supposed miracle, or it wouldn't be called 'a miracle'
[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]
|
2246
|
If books don't relate ideas or explain facts, commit them to the flames
[Hume]
|
2245
|
A priori it looks as if a cause could have absolutely any effect
[Hume]
|
2244
|
It can never be a logical contradiction to assert the non-existence of something thought to exist
[Hume]
|
3918
|
Moral philosophy aims to show us our duty
[Hume]
|
3919
|
Conclusions of reason do not affect our emotions or decisions to act
[Hume]
|
23560
|
If we all naturally had everything we could ever desire, the virtue of justice would be irrelevant
[Hume]
|
3920
|
If you equalise possessions, people's talents will make them unequal again
[Hume]
|
3921
|
The safety of the people is the supreme law
[Hume]
|
3922
|
Justice only exists to support society
[Hume]
|
3925
|
Personal Merit is the possession of useful or agreeable mental qualities
[Hume]
|
3926
|
The human heart has a natural concern for public good
[Hume]
|
3928
|
Virtue just requires careful calculation and a preference for the greater happiness
[Hume]
|
3929
|
No moral theory is of any use if it doesn't serve the interests of the individual concerned
[Hume]
|
3927
|
Society prefers helpful lies to harmful truth
[Hume]
|
3923
|
No one would cause pain to a complete stranger who happened to be passing
[Hume]
|
3924
|
Nature makes private affections come first, because public concerns are spread too thinly
[Hume]
|
21094
|
There are two kinds of right - to power, and to property
[Hume]
|
21095
|
It is an exaggeration to say that property is the foundation of all government
[Hume]
|
20705
|
That events could be uncaused is absurd; I only say intuition and demonstration don't show this
[Hume]
|
4579
|
The idea of a final cause is very uncertain and unphilosophical
[Hume]
|
4580
|
All virtues benefit either the public, or the individual who possesses them
[Hume]
|
4581
|
Virtues and vices are like secondary qualities in perception, found in observers, not objects
[Hume]
|
7636
|
It can't be more rational to believe in natural laws than miracles if the laws are not rational
[Ishaq on Hume]
|
6957
|
The objects of theological reasoning are too big for our minds
[Hume]
|
6959
|
We can't assume God's perfections are like our ideas or like human attributes
[Hume]
|
6960
|
Analogy suggests that God has a very great human mind
[Hume]
|
6958
|
How can we pronounce on a whole after a brief look at a very small part?
[Hume]
|
6961
|
An analogy begins to break down as soon as the two cases differ
[Hume]
|
6962
|
The thing which contains order must be God, so see God where you see order
[Hume]
|
6964
|
From our limited view, we cannot tell if the universe is faulty
[Hume]
|
6963
|
Why would we infer an infinite creator from a finite creation?
[Hume]
|
21279
|
If the divine cause is proportional to its effects, the effects are finite, so the Deity cannot be infinite
[Hume]
|
21280
|
From a ship you would judge its creator a genius, not a mere humble workman
[Hume]
|
21282
|
Design cannot prove a unified Deity. Many men make a city, so why not many gods for a world?
[Hume]
|
21281
|
This excellent world may be the result of a huge sequence of trial-and-error
[Hume]
|
21283
|
Humans renew their species sexually. If there are many gods, would they not do the same?
[Hume]
|
21284
|
This Creator god might be an infant or incompetent or senile
[Hume]
|
6965
|
The universe may be the result of trial-and-error
[Hume]
|
6966
|
Creation is more like vegetation than human art, so it won't come from reason
[Hume]
|
6967
|
Order may come from an irrational source as well as a rational one
[Hume]
|
21286
|
Motion often begins in matter, with no sign of a controlling agent
[Hume]
|
21287
|
The universe could settle into superficial order, without a designer
[Hume]
|
21288
|
Ideas arise from objects, not vice versa; ideas only influence matter if they are linked
[Hume]
|
21285
|
Events are baffling before experience, and obvious after experience
[Hume]
|
21256
|
A surprise feature of all products of 9 looks like design, but is actually a necessity
[Hume]
|
21254
|
A chain of events requires a cause for the whole as well as the parts, yet the chain is just a sum of parts
[Hume]
|
1435
|
If something must be necessary so that something exists rather than nothing, why can't the universe be necessary?
[Hume]
|
21255
|
No being's non-existence can imply a contradiction, so its existence cannot be proved a priori
[Hume]
|
6581
|
Hume thought (unlike Locke) that property is a merely conventional relationship
[Hume, by Fogelin]
|
21097
|
Modern monarchies are (like republics) rule by law, rather than by men
[Hume]
|
4677
|
If suicide is wrong because only God disposes of our lives, it must also be wrong to save lives
[Hume]
|
21096
|
The only purpose of government is to administer justice, which brings security
[Hume]
|
21099
|
People must have agreed to authority, because they are naturally equal, prior to education
[Hume]
|
21100
|
The idea that society rests on consent or promises undermines obedience
[Hume]
|
20495
|
We no more give 'tacit assent' to the state than a passenger carried on board a ship while asleep
[Hume]
|
6703
|
Poor people lack the knowledge or wealth to move to a different state
[Hume]
|
21101
|
The people would be amazed to learn that government arises from their consent
[Hume]
|
21102
|
We all know that the history of property is founded on injustices
[Hume]
|
21103
|
Moral questions can only be decided by common opinion
[Hume]
|
21091
|
It would be absurd if even a free constitution did not impose restraints, for the public good
[Hume]
|
21092
|
Nobility either share in the power of the whole, or they compose the power of the whole
[Hume]
|
21093
|
Friendship without community spirit misses out on the main part of virtue
[Hume]
|
18552
|
Forget about beauty; just concentrate on the virtues of delicacy and discernment admired in critics
[Hume, by Scruton]
|
6608
|
Strong sense, delicate sentiment, practice, comparisons, and lack of prejudice, are all needed for good taste
[Hume]
|
6692
|
For Hume, practical reason has little force, because we can always modify our desires
[Hume, by Graham]
|
20030
|
If one event causes another, the two events must be wholly distinct
[Hume, by Wilson/Schpall]
|
4008
|
Modern science has destroyed the Platonic synthesis of scientific explanation and morality
[Hume, by Taylor,C]
|
8067
|
The problem of getting to 'ought' from 'is' would also apply in getting to 'owes' or 'needs'
[Anscombe on Hume]
|
7446
|
The idea of inductive evidence, around 1660, made Hume's problem possible
[Hume, by Hacking]
|
5548
|
Hume became a total sceptic, because he believed that reason was a deception
[Hume, by Kant]
|
3819
|
Hume's 'bundle' won't distinguish one mind with ten experiences from ten minds
[Searle on Hume]
|
6182
|
Even Hume didn't include mathematics in his empiricism
[Hume, by Kant]
|
6526
|
Hume says objects are not a construction, but an imaginative leap
[Hume, by Robinson,H]
|
6489
|
Associationism results from having to explain intentionality just with sense-data
[Robinson,H on Hume]
|
11098
|
Momentary impressions are wrongly identified with one another on the basis of resemblance
[Hume, by Quine]
|
8382
|
For Hume a constant conjunction is both necessary and sufficient for causation
[Hume, by Crane]
|
19274
|
Hume seems to presuppose necessary connections between mental events
[Kripke on Hume]
|
12048
|
The only meaning we have for substance is a collection of qualities
[Hume]
|
7954
|
If we see a resemblance among objects, we apply the same name to them, despite their differences
[Hume]
|
9428
|
Nothing we clearly imagine is absolutely impossible
[Hume]
|
8649
|
Two numbers are equal if all of their units correspond to one another
[Hume]
|
4766
|
Necessity only exists in the mind, and not in objects
[Hume]
|
21290
|
Multiple objects cannot convey identity, because we see them as different
[Hume]
|
21289
|
'An object is the same with itself' is meaningless; it expresses unity, not identity
[Hume]
|
21292
|
Saying an object is the same with itself is only meaningful over a period of time
[Hume]
|
1207
|
Both number and unity are incompatible with the relation of identity
[Hume]
|
21291
|
There is no medium state between existence and non-existence
[Hume]
|
21293
|
Individuation is only seeing that a thing is stable and continuous over time
[Hume]
|
13424
|
Aristotelians propose accidents supported by substance, but they don't understand either of them
[Hume]
|
14301
|
We have no good concept of solidity or matter, because accounts of them are all circular
[Hume]
|
21296
|
If all of my perceptions were removed by death, nothing more is needed for total annihilation
[Hume]
|
21299
|
Changing a part can change the whole, not absolutely, but by its proportion of the whole
[Hume]
|
21300
|
A change more obviously destroys an identity if it is quick and observed
[Hume]
|
1321
|
If identity survives change or interruption, then resemblance, contiguity or causation must unite the parts of it
[Hume]
|
1330
|
If a republic can retain identity through many changes, so can an individual
[Hume]
|
21302
|
If a ruined church is rebuilt, its relation to its parish makes it the same church
[Hume]
|
21303
|
We accept the identity of a river through change, because it is the river's nature
[Hume]
|
21301
|
The purpose of the ship makes it the same one through all variations
[Hume]
|
1317
|
A person is just a fast-moving bundle of perceptions
[Hume]
|
1331
|
The parts of a person are always linked together by causation
[Hume]
|
1388
|
Hume gives us an interesting sketchy causal theory of personal identity
[Perry on Hume]
|
21297
|
A person is simply a bundle of continually fluctuating perceptions
[Hume]
|
21294
|
A continuous lifelong self must be justified by a single sustained impression, which we don't have
[Hume]
|
21295
|
When I introspect I can only observe my perceptions, and never a self which has them
[Hume]
|
21298
|
We pretend our perceptions are continuous, and imagine a self to fill the gaps
[Hume]
|
21304
|
Identity in the mind is a fiction, like that fiction that plants and animals stay the same
[Hume]
|
1316
|
Introspection always discovers perceptions, and never a Self without perceptions
[Hume]
|
1333
|
Memory only reveals personal identity, by showing cause and effect
[Hume]
|
1332
|
We use memory to infer personal actions we have since forgotten
[Hume]
|
21305
|
Memory not only reveals identity, but creates it, by producing resemblances
[Hume]
|
21307
|
Who thinks that because you have forgotten an incident you are no longer that person?
[Hume]
|
21306
|
Causation unites our perceptions, by producing, destroying and modifying each other
[Hume]
|
21806
|
Memory, senses and understanding are all founded on the imagination
[Hume]
|
22374
|
You can only hold people responsible for actions which arise out of their character
[Hume]
|
8257
|
Reason alone can never be a motive to any action of the will
[Hume]
|
3807
|
Reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions
[Hume]
|
3650
|
Total selfishness is not irrational
[Hume]
|
4578
|
You can't move from 'is' to 'ought' without giving some explanation or reason for the deduction
[Hume]
|
22382
|
We cannot discover vice by studying a wilful murder; that only arises from our own feelings
[Hume]
|
12417
|
Mathematicians only accept their own proofs when everyone confims them
[Hume]
|
11950
|
We have no idea of powers, because we have no impressions of them
[Hume]
|
11949
|
There may well be powers in things, with which we are quite unacquainted
[Hume]
|
11941
|
The distinction between a power and its exercise is entirely frivolous
[Hume]
|
11942
|
Power is the possibility of action, as discovered by experience
[Hume]
|
15755
|
Hume needs a notion which includes degrees of resemblance
[Shoemaker on Hume]
|
15250
|
If impressions, memories and ideas only differ in vivacity, nothing says it is memory, or repetition
[Whitehead on Hume]
|
16946
|
Causation is just invariance, as long as it is described in general terms
[Quine on Hume]
|
20189
|
Belief is a feeling, independent of the will, which arises from uncontrolled and unknown causes
[Hume]
|
21309
|
A proposition cannot be intelligible or consistent, if the perceptions are not so
[Hume]
|
21311
|
Are self and substance the same? Then how can self remain if substance changes?
[Hume]
|
21312
|
Perceptions are distinct, so no connection between them can ever be discovered
[Hume]
|
21308
|
We have no impression of the self, and we therefore have no idea of it
[Hume]
|
21310
|
Does an oyster with one perception have a self? Would lots of perceptions change that?
[Hume]
|
5323
|
Experiences are logically separate, but factually linked by simultaneity or a feeling of continuousness
[Ayer on Hume]
|
23115
|
We have no natural love of mankind, other than through various relationships
[Hume]
|