without the corresponding sense experiences,
words are meaningless, so any idea without a
direct link to any sense experience should be
regarded with suspicion an not taken seriously
coined Tabula Rasa
Hume
HUME'S FORK
Relations of Ideas -
analytic truths(tautology)
Matters of Fact and Real Existence - synthetic
thruths(knowledge)
Strong empiricism
justification - the blind man and the
concept of red
Explanation of Ideas - The Golden
Mountain
similarly to Locke,
metaphysical ideas are not
actually ideas merely
'sophistry and illusion'
Strengths
initially intuative
Without language, which
we learn through sense
experience in interaction
with others, we have no
clarity of thought and cannot
relate complex ideas to one
another
Nota:
a potential counter to this is that we must have some kind of pre-existing capacity to learn language, this is resolved by Kant's theory of Conceptual Schemes
imagination initially appears to be explainable
via deconstruction of concepts of previous
sense impressions i.e. golden mountain.
Weaknessess
there is no direct experience of the world as such -
only direct experience of sense data
therefore we cannot assume that what we are
experiencing is an accurate representation of the
world, of there even is a physical external world to
represent in the first place.
Words represent ideas - ideas
- sense impressions represent
themselves(after scepticism)
and not necessarily any
external world. in other words,
my words stand for my sense
impressions and no one else's
COUNTER could lead
to solipsism
we can never know if every
individual truly shares the same
sense impressions, as we can
never experience anyone else's
perception
we can conceive of a missing
shade of blue but there is no
sure way we can trace this
back to experience
COUNTER Hume admits this is the exception to the rule
some metaphysical or fantastical ideas are too complex
to be broken down into simpler concepts easily - a
unicorn
sense impressions are
not necessary for ideas
when exchanging ideas (which supposedly stand for sense
impressions, which are exclusive) sense impressions can
play no part in the concepts. our understanding of the same
language, not shared sense impressions, is what allows us to
communcaite effectively
the idea that sense experience stimulates ideas is not
the same as ideas being copies of sense impressions
Liebniz's example
of viened marble
rather than a blank
slate
Certain logical conclusions such as 'X
cannot be X and not X at the same
time' seem to have no basis in sense
experience
Words are not just labels
nothing about experience itself
teaches us how to judge it - 'this is tove'
Logical Positivism -
the Vienna circle
The Verification Principle - a
proposition is verified if it satisfies
one of two criteria:
It is analytically
true
A statement that can be varified by
experience
Problem: the verification principle itself cannot be varified
Plato - knowledge is
justified true belief
important distinction between
IMPRESSIOnS and CONCEPTS
if I am sitting and drinking tea I can be said to have a
sensory impression of it: I can smell, touch and taste it and
be aware that the thing I am sensing is tea
I can be said to have a concept of tea when I can
think about it whilst not actually being in its
presence