Philosophical Comparison Descartes and Hume

Philosophical Comparison Descartes and Hume

Outline

Rene Descartes, a rationalist, said that each person contains the criteria for truth and knowledge in them. Finding truth and knowledge comes from the individual themselves, not necessarily from God. Descartes also believed that reason is the same for every single person. Descartes believed that nothing could be true unless we as humans could perceive it. He also believed that you could break down things into smaller simpler parts. Descartes also believed that there was a relationship between the mind and body. He also believed that the idea of being perfect originated from God since God himself was perfect. He also integrates his mathematical concepts into his methodology. Descartes also applied doubt to his ideas before he granted complete certainty to them. Descartes famous quote is "I think therefore I am."

David Hume, an empiricist, wanted to explain knowledge on a non-theological basis. Hume believed that a priori ideas did not exist and that our ideas are not innate but derived.

Hume believed in cause and effect. Hume also recognized matters of fact, which is reasoning derived from our senses, for example, the sun will rise tomorrow. Hume's beliefs on cause and effect, he believed that causes were not uncertain. Hume was also a skeptical philosopher unlike Descartes. In my opinion I think Hume was more practical in his philosophies that that of Descartes. Hume only accepted things that he perceived through his senses. One can have ideas about what things would be of look like only if they have some idea about them. If we say for example a mountain made out of gold, we most likely have never seen a gold mountain.

Introduction

Let's compare Descartes with Hume. Hume was an empiricist. Empiricism, as rationalism, focuses on the knowledge and knowhow and the materials it is made of knowledge. The main representatives of empiricism were Locke, in the Baroque, and J. Berkeley and David Hume in English illustration. The main representatives of rationalism were Descartes, Leibnitz, Spinoza, and Malebranche (Joachim, 2006).

Hume distinguishes two types of perceptions: impressions and ideas. Impressions are the immediate data of sense experience, while ideas are weak copies left in our mind after a sensory experience. It also distinguishes between simple and complex perceptions. The simple are indivisible and complex are severable. Critical metaphysics, denies the existence of the idea of substance, which does not correspond to any sensory experience (Curley, 2008). For Descartes, the method of math knowledge were more specifically Euclidean geometry, while for Hume was the physical Newton. Descartes used the deductive method, ranging from the universal to the particular (Chomsky, 2006). Hume used the inductive method, which goes from the particular to the universal. Hume believes that knowledge is likely. Descartes believed in the existence of innate ideas in man, undeniable truths and safe, but Hume denies, since for him the human mind at birth is like a blank book in which you type through the experience (Spicker, 2000).

Discussion

Rationalism is a philosophical theory which originates ...