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 knowledge resolves itself into probability. ... In every judgment, which we can form concerning probability, as well as concerning knowledge, we ought always to correct the first judgment deriv'd from the nature of the object, by another judgment, deriv'd from the nature of the understanding.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Knowledge is largely about assessing probabilities, and our judgments should be refined through understanding.
David Hume's quote suggests that the nature of knowledge is fundamentally about assessing the likelihood of truths rather than certainties. He emphasizes the importance of refining our initial judgments based on empirical understanding, aligning our conclusions not just with the nature of the object itself but also with how we comprehend that object. This reflects a critical examination of how we attain knowledge and the role of reason in our evaluations of what we know.
Themes
KnowledgeProbabilityJudgmentUnderstandingPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
During a philosophy lecture, to illustrate the relationship between knowledge and understanding.
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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The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness
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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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