100 must-read books for college students

Chapter 45 The Finale of Modern Empiricism
Chapter 44 The finale of modern empiricism: "Human Nature"

The first "On Human Nature" was not a blockbuster work.Instead, it's almost untouched.until hair
table two

A hundred years later, people think of it as if Columbus discovered the New World, and then the temperature rose in a straight line.Looking at "On Human Nature" Nirvana
After NC039

We found that this is a work written with such boldness and profound philosophy.It is no exaggeration to say that "People
The book "Ethics of Emotionalism and Aesthetics of Empiricism" is called "Modern Economics" in the history of human philosophy.
The finale of empirical theory".

Hume's "Treatise of Human Nature" is a monument in the history of philosophy

Hume was born in a declining aristocratic family in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1711. He entered the University of Edinburgh to study law at the age of 12.

Dropping out of school from a poor family, he developed a strong interest in philosophy during self-study.So he read widely.extensive reading, persistent
Seeking, all these showed Hume a vast world of rationality, which finally made him firm in his philosophical research.

belief.

In 1732, he began to write his first and most important philosophical work "On Human Nature". In 1734, Hume was in business in England for several months

, decided to give up doing business, and return to the study of philosophy that he really loves.So he went to France.

First in Paris, no

After a long time he went to Roma, where he mainly studied the language.A year later, Hume came to La Flaches, a small town in Anjou.

Hume is pulling
Fraiser devoted himself to writing for two years, and in the middle of 1737, he basically completed the writing of "On Human Nature".

Although Hume's "Treatise of Human Nature" was written in France, his conception and design of this work began long ago.According to Hugh
According to Mo himself, he conceived the book before leaving university and made a writing plan before he was 21 years old.That is to say,
At least in 1725 and 1732, Hume had begun and completed preparations for the book.

Therefore, it can be said that "A Treatise of Human Nature" is the crystallization of Hume's many years of philosophical thinking, including his various philosophical ideas.
The most basic formulation of the problem, although his later works have many additions, deletions and revisions to the "Treatise of Human Nature", but his basic

This point of view is established in this work.

The first volume was published in 1739, and the second and third volumes in 1740.Hume had high expectations for this book, but it was not taken seriously, so

As for his dismay, the book died almost from birth.After introspection, he believes that the problem lies in the way of exposition
, so in 1748 and 1751 the first and third volumes of the book were rewritten into two small volumes, namely, "Study of Human Intellect" and "

A Study in Moral Principles, published with success. Hume died in 1776.

Hume is a prolific writer who has written a lot and covered a wide range of topics, but in terms of his philosophical works, the main ones are "Treatise of Human Nature" and two

Two Studies: A Study of Human Reason and a Study of Moral Principles.

On the Anthropology of Intellectual Emotional Moral Empiricism

A Treatise of Human Nature has a subtitle: "An Attempt at the Method of Experimental Reasoning in the Sciences of the Mind," which shows that Hume
The intention to combine the results of modern experimental science with philosophical research.

The book "On Human Nature" is divided into three volumes: the first volume "On Intellectuality" is his epistemology; the second volume "On Emotion" is his epistemology

A study of emotions and their effects based on discourse; the third volume "On Morals" is his moral theory.In this work, Hugh

Mo put forward and demonstrated the basic principles of his empiricism, showing the philosophical attitude of skepticism, and from those basic principles

Starting from the book, extensively discussing many issues in ethics, aesthetics, the origin of government, and the development of society, the whole book constitutes a
a complete system.

Hume believed that compared with the already quite complete natural philosophy, although the spiritual philosophy of human beings developed slowly, it was more important
, because all science is related to human nature in the final analysis, and philosophical disputes are fundamentally due to the lack of scientific understanding of human nature
.In his view, this spiritual philosophy, like natural philosophy, must be based on experience and observation as its foundation and core.

"Humanity" should include two main parts: intellectual and emotional.Hume therefore set himself the task of deducing by experiment

To dissect human nature with rational methods in order to establish a "science of man".

"On Human Nature" first discusses the intellect.Hume called the basic elements of cognition "perception".All perception of the mind is double
There are two classes, impressions and ideas, which differ in the degree of intensity and vividness with which the mind is stimulated into consciousness.impression

They are those perceptions that enter the mind most intensely and vividly, including all sensations, feelings, and emotions that arise for the first time in the mind.view
Thought is the weak image of impression in thinking and reasoning, it is the copy of impression.Perception can also be divided into simple perception and
Compound perception, all simple ideas and simple impressions are similar to each other.Compound ideas are not necessarily similar to compound impressions, but
Its constituent elements are all derived from simple impressions,
Therefore the first principle of the science of human nature is that impressions precede ideas, and all ideas
Thoughts originate from experience, and there are no innate concepts.As for where the impressions from the senses come from, it is beyond the comprehension of human reason.

problem, because we cannot account for it beyond the boundaries of cognition, which is sensation.So for cognition, there is really
The job of meaning is to account for the order and principles that form the relations between ideas.The mind has two faculties with regard to ideas from impressions
, memory and imagination.Memory reproduces impressions and preserves ideas in a precise order; imagination arranges ideas freely, thinking

Elephant freedom is the second principle of the science of human nature.

The relations thus formed between ideas may be divided into two kinds: one depends entirely on the ideas with which we compare them.

The other kind can be changed without any change of concept,

The former deals only with relations between ideas
As long as it conforms to the principle of the connection of ideas, the resulting knowledge, such as mathematics, is certain, but its content is extremely

It's limited.The latter is mainly because the causal relationship seems to be able to be deduced beyond our senses, and to bring out the existence that we cannot see or touch.

and objects report to us, which form the basis of much of knowledge, that is, of knowledge about the external world.

Clearly, our belief in causality is based on some constant union, or necessary connection, between cause and effect, which
This necessary connection cannot be derived from reason, but only from experience, but what experience provides us is only some specific objects.

As in all past instances are often combined, it can neither tell us why they are often combined in

At first, this is beyond its bounds, a question it cannot answer; nor can it tell us that they must be so in the future.because

Experience is only valid for what has been experienced in the past, and the fact that the sun has risen every day in the past does not necessarily mean that it will rise tomorrow.actual

As far as we know, the concept of cause and effect is derived from "habit".Due to the frequent combination of two events experienced many times, when we know
When we perceive one of these things, habit drives us to think of the other.Therefore, our knowledge of the external world can only be

is a probable inference.In Hume's view, although we cannot know the source of sensations, the existence of entities and God, and the necessity of causality
But this does not mean that we are necessarily heading towards outright skepticism.The purpose of his questioning of these questions

Just exempting those that are relevant to this, thereby limiting awareness to what we can solve.

The second volume of Essay on Human Nature deals with emotions.Perceptions are divided into impressions and ideas, and impressions can be divided into primary and secondary

, which is feeling and introspection.The former includes all sense-impressions and all sensations of pleasure and pain; the latter includes emotions and similar emotions.

other emotions.Reflective impressions also distinguish the calm from the violent, and the beauty and ugliness of actions, writings, and external objects.
There are feelings of the first kind, and emotions of love and hate, sorrow and joy, pride and humility, etc., of the second.Hume in this volume

The book mainly discusses the nature, source, cause and effect of those violent emotions. He takes the principle of emotion prior to idea as his ethics.

Science laid the foundation.

In Book III, Hume discusses questions of morality.Hume applied his theory of epistemology and affect to ethics, and argued that

Reasoning about morality will substantiate statements about the emotions of the intellect.The mind has nothing but perceptions, judgments of good and evil

It is also perception, so ethics is a behavioral science that must be based on experience and observation.Habitual associations do not

Just as what makes us believe in causality in nature, it also makes us believe in causality in human actions, that similar causes produce similar
The principle of similar results holds true for both types of events.Moral distinctions do not really follow from reason, because

Because the role of rationality is to discover truth and falsehood, but our emotion, will and behavior have no difference between truth and falsehood, it does not matter whether it violates or

In line with reason, morality is rather felt rather than judged.Since morality is not distinguished by ideas

, then it must come from impressions, that is, from our moral sense.Therefore, reason does not constitute an antithetical relationship with emotion, it is
And it should also be a slave of emotion, and have no other function except to obey and serve emotion.The main content of emotion is suffering
All morality is based on these special feelings.The essence of virtue is to produce happiness, and the essence of evil

The essence is to make people suffer.Virtue and vice are aroused by us simply observing and thinking about any action, emotion or character

difference between pleasure and pain.On the one hand, Hume insists on moral emotionalism and opposes moral rationalism; on the other hand, he also tries to

To keep his utilitarian view from falling into selfish narrowness, he regards "sympathy" as an important principle of morality.pity

It is the sympathy of the soul, the transmission of emotions and emotions, and the transformation of concepts into impressions.
Interests and even public welfare generate concern, which is an important source of virtue and the basis of social life.

"A Treatise of Human Nature" is a famous empiricist philosophy masterpiece in England in the 18th century, and it is the most important and influential philosophy in the history of western philosophy.
one of the works.His philosophical views have been compared to those of Thomas Reed, the founder of the Scottish Common Sense School, and Kant, a German philosopher.

Thought has had a great influence, and has become the basis of various empiricist schools such as modern Western positivism, pragmatism, and new realism.
an important theoretical source.

Although the publication of "A Treatise of Human Nature" did not cause any response, Hume said sadly that "it died as soon as it was born".

But in the end it was a huge success.

Hume's "Treatise of Human Nature", especially the theory of understanding, has had a profound impact on the history of philosophy. His theory of cause and effect
and his formulation of the problem of induction is still the subject of discussion today, and his skepticism makes not only religion but rationalism
Theories and even empiricism are in trouble.

Among modern British empiricists, "A Treatise of Human Nature" most thoroughly implements the basic principles of empiricism, and precisely because of this thoroughness, from

And most fully exposed the limitations of empiricism.

In short, this is a book that created the first agnostic philosophical system in the history of modern European philosophy, and has a profound impact on modern and modern Western philosophy.
A book of great influence.

(End of this chapter)