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
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Hume suggests that relying on a divine being to validate our perceptions is an unconventional approach.
In this quote, David Hume critiques the idea of using religious belief to affirm the truth of our senses. He implies that it's illogical to seek validation from a higher power for something as personal and immediate as our sensory experiences, thus highlighting the complexities of belief, knowledge, and perception.
Themes
PerceptionSensesBeliefPhilosophyTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of truth and perception.
More from David Hume
All quotes βEloquence, 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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... The idea of God, as meaning an infinitely intelligent, wise and good Being, arises from reflecting on the operations of our own mind, and augmenting, without limit, those qualities of goodness and wisdom.
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