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
It seems to me, that the only Objects of the abstract Sciences or of Demonstration is Quantity and Number, and that all Attempts to extend this more perfect Species of Knowledge beyond these Bounds are mere Sophistry and Illusion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
David Hume suggests that true knowledge is limited to quantity and number, and anything beyond that is deceptive.
In this quote, David Hume asserts that the realm of knowledge derived from abstract sciences is confined to quantifiable elements, specifically quantity and number. He argues that any attempts to apply this kind of rigorous scientific understanding to more complex or abstract ideas leads to misconceptions and false reasoning, which he terms as 'sophistry and illusion'. Hume's statement emphasizes a philosophical skepticism about the limits of human understanding and the nature of reality beyond empirical measurement.
Themes
KnowledgeQuantityNumberSophistryIllusionPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on the limits of scientific knowledge, one might reference Hume's quote to illustrate the boundaries of empirical inquiry.
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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