Single Idea 2232

[catalogued under 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / c. Teleological Proof critique]

Full Idea

If we infer a cause from an effect, we must proportion the one to the other. …a body of ten ounces raised in a scale proves the counterbalance exceeds ten ounces, but not that it exceeds a hundred.

Gist of Idea

You can't infer the cause to be any greater than its effect

Source

David Hume (Enquiry Conc Human Understanding [1748], XI.105)

Book Reference

Hume,David: 'Enquiries Conc. Human Understanding, Morals', ed/tr. Selby-Bigge/Nidditch [OUP 1975], p.136