David Hume's Mind Game

Hume's Mind Game

The human mind is a very intricate machine. There have been many people

that have attempted, and failed, to explain how the human mind operates. After

reading Hume, I was in agreement with a lot of what he was explaining. Hume, in

my mind, has come the closest to uncovering the minds operations.

Robert Hume dealt with a lot of what Decarte talked about in his

writings. The difference between Decarte and Hume is that Hume "ironed out" a

lot of the "wrinkles" that Decarte left behind. One in particular, was that of

doubting everything. Hume believed that you could doubt some things, but it was

impossible to doubt everything. I completely agree with Hume. Doubting

everything would never lead anywhere. The human mind can not just wipe out all

it's known memory and start over. The mind is always on. Decarte used his

beliefs to prove his own theories. He cheated his own system.

Another thing Hume did was throw the Law of Mediocrity out the window.

He is saying, basically, that everyday life can change tomorrow. The sun may

not come up in the morning, a pool ball, being hit by another, may not move. I

still believe the sun will come up tomorrow, but I see what Hume is trying to

get at. Everything that is thought to be definite can change. There is no

proven facts that say the sun will come up tomorrow, we just assume it will. In

Hume's writing, assumption is a dangerous word. Assumption is made up of what

you believe and what you don't. I can believe light will turn on when I hit the

switch, but I can not rule out the fact that it will not turn on. It is

probable that the light will turn on, but not definite. Hume says probabilities

are what the mind is consuming during everyday life. Science give the facts

because it has been tested and proved. "Everyday life" hasn't been proven by

science. One example of a nonproved science is gravity. Gravity pulls

everything toward the center of the earth. They have tested gravity, but there

are no definite facts known to prove the theories. Who knows, maybe tomorrow

gravity reverses it's pull and everything gets pulled upward. We, as normal

thinking persons, assume gravity will not change, and that assumption is what

clouds our minds of other possibilities. Hume doesn't want people to change the

way they think, he just wants people to acknowledge the other possibilities that

are out there.

Robert Hume has a very good grasp on what he is talking about.