Sunday, April 20, 2008
section 9; of the reason of animals
Hume says that all our reasonings of matter of fact come from an analogy. How we expect the same causes of one event to be the same cause for another similar event. In this section Hume states that animals and humans both learn from experiences, the only difference is that animals cannot reason. But one thing he mentions is that, even though both animals and humans learn from past experiences, there is something greater that allows us to understand, and that is our instincts. "Instincts are powers that acts in us unknowingly." Instincts is what keeps us away from putting our hands in flames of fire. Because of our instincts, we have certain beliefs and imaginations, this is how the animals learn to survive in nature, by following there insticts. Not just animals but also man.
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4 comments:
So by using instincts Hume is saying that we are born with innate qualities. Fundamentally an instinct is an innate trait that we are given when we are born so in turn that would mean that Hume disagrees with Locke and Descartes if I'm not mistaken?
arjan, i would say that instincts is an innate characteristic, im not to sure where hume stands when it comes to innate ideas but it think that he would agree more with descartes than locke. locke would try to put insticts under universal consent meaning that everyone should have an understanding of it but wheres the proof of that? in the other hand, i would say that descartes will say that insticts are innate.
i Have to agree with Hume on this that all our reasoning of matter of fact come from analogy. Now about our instincts, yes those are beliefs and imaginations, but most animals survive because of that. Some animals senses are not that good so the have to use their instincts.
Yeah i also blogged on animals and humans, i think instincts are very similar when comparing the too, and there are many different examples i could use to prove my point
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