ESSAY ON: John Locke and David Hume on Power, Cause and Effect and Necessary Connections in their Essays Concerning Human Understanding

Number of Pages 5

This research paper: This is a 5 page paper discussing Locke and Hume’s perspectives on power, cause and effect, and necessary connections in their essays on human understanding. Philosophers John Locke and David Hume wrote on human understanding in regards to relationships, power, cause and effect and necessary connection. Locke who wrote “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” in the late 17th century wrote of the relationships which exist between active and passive power, and the presence of cause and effect as necessary connections in the formulation of individual thoughts of substance, perceptions and ideas. David Hume, who wrote “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding” in the mid-18th century basically rejected the causal connections argued by Locke in that man can only gain impressions or ideas from his own experience and that these ideas have “unknown causes”. In addition, things of substance and power are also only based on impressions and perceptions and cannot be considered concrete arguments. Both perspectives are still well received today but with some areas of contention. Locke presents a great deal of his material based on the assumption of God’s existence. However, his support of arguments for cause and effect hold within the scientific community. Hume, on the other hand, presents his arguments from a skeptical or atheist standpoint in which perceptions or ideas can only be formulated from experience; ideas also supported by the scientific community. However, Hume rejects the reliance of cause and effect to support arguments; a reliance which of course is a large factor in today’s society, not only from a scientific standpoint but from a philosophical and political standpoint as well. Bibliography lists 4 sources.


File: D0_TJLckHm1.rtf


Send me this paper »

« Back to Topic Listings

Copyright © 2000-2024 The Paper Store Enterprises, Inc. & Fast Papers On-line.
All rights reserved. Search for your essay here.

U.S. based premium essay, research and
term papers service since 2000.