David Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding - Section IV

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms and definitions from David Hume's exploration of human understanding.

Relations of Ideas

Propositions that are intuitively or demonstratively certain, such as those found in geometry, algebra, and arithmetic.

Matters of Fact

Propositions whose truth is determined by experience or sensory evidence, which may include events that are possible but not certain.

Cause and Effect

The principle that all reasonings concerning matters of fact are founded on the relation of cause and effect.

A priori

Knowledge or arguments that are derived independently of experience.

A posteriori

Knowledge that is dependent on experience or empirical evidence.

Custom

The habitual association of ideas that can influence our reasoning and expectations.

Empirical Evidence

Information acquired by observation or experimentation, critical for establishing matters of fact.

Induction

A method of reasoning that involves making generalizations based on individual instances.

Ultimate Causes

The fundamental principles or reasons behind natural phenomena, which remain largely inaccessible to human understanding.

Skeptical Doubts

Questions that arise regarding the certainty of our knowledge about matters of fact and existence.

Analogy

A process of reasoning in which one infers that if two things are alike in one way, they will be alike in others.