On Causation- David Hume
Scottish philosopher and historian, David Hume, is known for his extreme empiricism, with the idea that philosophy cannot go beyond our experience. Causation is the power or necessary connexion that cause our impressions. All ideas are gained through experience. Hume says that, “all our ideas are nothing but but copies of our impressions, or, in other words, that it is impossible for us to think of anything, which we have not antecedently felt, either by our external or internal senses…” To elaborate, there are no sentimental impressions on causation, only the ‘cause’ and ‘effect’. In a single instance we are not capable of discovering any power or necessary connextion as to what ties the effect to the cause. We have no experience on the power of causation, only the experience that one object follows another. However, if we could discover the power of a cause in our minds, Hume says we could foresee the effect of the cause before it ever happens, ever without experiencing it. We may feel that we have the experience of causation, but this is due to volition, which effects our mind and bodily motions. Hume says,
“The motions of our body follows the command of our will,” and the influence of a will is derived from our consciousness. Although, there is no bigger mystery than that of the, “union of soul with body; by which a supposed spiritual substance acquires such an influence over material one, that the most refined thought is able to actuate the grossest matter,”. However, if we were able to perceive any power from our impressions, then we