Philosophical Views on Knowledge

Paper Summary:

In this paper the writer outlines the philosophical views of David Hume and Rene Descartes. The writer points out that quite simply, Hume believes that humans experience what can be properly called knowledge and he rebuts the notion that human testimony about "miracles". The writer notes that Descartes may be the father of modern philosophy, but his work is riddled with inconsistencies that make him hard to follow. In any event, the writer explains that Descartes cleaves to a view that knowledge and truth may - or may not - come from an external and omniscient power.

From the Paper:

"Hume, as is well known, is an inductionist (it may be said that he is an empirical inductionist) and he holds that knowledge is derived from experience. Hume does not believe that human beings can, by mere inference alone, divine that one pool ball hitting another pool ball will move the second of the two. A priori reasoning will not lead us to the truth of things; that can only be found by examining and observing. He adds that anything that is not proved by experience is mere custom or habit (or superstition). In the end, we can only arrive at true knowledge through inductive reasoning; in other words, we derive fundamental principles from the observation of particular facts or instances."

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