more on this theme     |     more from this thinker


Single Idea 7405

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 1. Empiricism ]

Full Idea

Experience concludeth nothing universally.

Gist of Idea

Experience can't prove universal truths

Source

Thomas Hobbes (The Elements of Law [1640], I.4.10), quoted by Richard Tuck - Hobbes Ch.2

Book Ref

Tuck,Richard: 'Hobbes: a very short introduction' [OUP 2002], p.59


A Reaction

Empiricists seem proud to claim this limitation on human understanding, where rationalists like Leibniz use it as an argument against empiricism. Kripke says (e.g. Idea 4966) they are both wrong! I sympathise with Kripke.

Related Idea

Idea 4966 Theoretical identities are between rigid designators, and so are necessary a posteriori [Kripke]


The 9 ideas from 'The Elements of Law'

Hobbes created English-language philosophy [Hobbes, by Tuck]
It is an error that reason should control the passions, which give right guidance on their own [Hobbes, by Tuck]
Self-preservation is basic, and people judge differently about that, implying ethical relativism [Hobbes, by Tuck]
Hobbes shifted from talk of 'the good' to talk of 'rights' [Hobbes, by Tuck]
The attributes of God just show our inability to conceive his nature [Hobbes]
Evidence is conception, which is imagination, which proceeds from the senses [Hobbes]
The qualities of the world are mere appearances; reality is the motions which cause them [Hobbes]
Experience can't prove universal truths [Hobbes]
Good and evil are what please us; goodness and badness the powers causing them [Hobbes]