Dr.
Hume, Section IX: Of the Reason of
Animals
A. Analogy and Custom
· We
have already seen that custom, for Hume, is the foundation of all causal
reasoning
· But
we must recognize that a condition for forming this mental habit is being able
to see different events as similar
· For
this reason, Hume acknowledges that all our reasonings
concerning matters of fact depend on a species of analogy
· Given
this, we can evaluate the legitimacy of any given causal inference on these
criteria:
1) Custom: how strong is the habit
(how constant is the conjunction)?
2) Analogy: how similar is the present
event to those events in your past experience (to which you are accustomed)
Inquiry
Relations of Ideas
Fields of Inquiry Matters of
Fact
Pure Reason Type of Reasoning Experimental Reason
Principle of Guiding
Principles Analogy and Custom
Contradiction
Logical Nature
of Evidence Complete/Incomplete
Demonstration Proof
or Probability
(a priori) (a posteriori)