Discussion Post
Links:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hume/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/
Textbook: Modern Philosophy – David Hume – “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”
Textbook: Modern Philosophy – Immanuel Kant – “Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics”
Please answer all parts of each of the following questions:
1. From your reading of Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, formulate and construct some arguments you think Hume uses to show that the cause/effect relation isn’t a matter of logic. If not logic, what does he think it is? What is the principle of induction and what is his argument against it? Do you agree with him that we should be skeptical of the logical basis for both cause/effect reasoning and inductive logic? Why or why not? Be specific.
2. How is Kant’s ‘transcendental idealism’ different from Berkeley’s idealism? What distinguishes Kant’s views from both traditional rationalism and traditional empiricism? What is the nature of Kant’s ‘Copernican Revolution’? As a result of this ‘revolution’ what is it that we cannot know?
3. Explain in your own words the meaning of Kant’s terms of judgment: ‘analytic’, ‘synthetic’, a priori, a posteriori, and give examples of the three different types of judgments Kant allows for. Why is there no fourth type of judgment? Be specific.
