Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow.
David HumeRead
..all arguments concerning existence are founded on the relation of cause and effect; that our knowledge of that relation is derived entirely from experience; and all our experimental conclusions proceed upon the supposition that the future will be conformable to the past. .... Without the influence of custom, we should be entirely ignorant of every matter of fact beyond what is immediately present to the memory and senses.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that our understanding of existence is based on cause and effect, learned through experience, and our predictions rely on past observations.
David Hume's quote highlights the foundational role of cause and effect in our understanding of reality. He argues that our knowledge stems from experience, which shapes our expectations of the future based on past events. Without the habitual influence of our experiences, we would lack understanding about anything beyond our immediate perceptions. This reflects a skepticism about the certainty of knowledge that is not directly observed or experienced.
Themes
Cause And EffectExperienceKnowledgeCustomPerception
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussion about the nature of reality.
More from David Hume
All quotes →Eloquence, at its highest pitch, leaves little room for reason or reflection, but addresses itself entirely to the desires and affections, captivating the willing hearers, and subduing their understanding.
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All that belongs to human understanding, in this deep ignorance and obscurity, is to be sceptical, or at least cautious, and not to admit of any hypothesis whatever, much less of any which is supported by no appearance of probability.
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There is a very remarkable inclination in human nature to bestow on external objects the same emotions which it observes in itself, and to find every where those ideas which are most present to it.
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To have recourse to the veracity of the supreme Being, in order to prove the veracity of our senses, is surely making a very unexpected circuit.
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