Chapter 10 - From Hobbes to Hume

From Vaughn Textbook, Topic: Hobbes; Locke; Berkeley; Hume; Spinoza; and Leibniz

What is distributive justice?

The fair distribution of society’s benefits and burdens — such things as jobs, income, property, liberties, rights, welfare aid, taxes, and public service

What is justice?

The idea that people should get what is fair or what is their due

What is the social contract theory?

The view that justice is secured, and the state is made legitimate, through an agreement among citizens of the state or between the citizens and the rulers of the state

What is the principle of induction?

The presumption that events that followed one another in the past will do the same in the future, that the future will be like the past

What is pantheism?

The view that God is identical with everything

What are monads?

Leibniz’s term for the only true substances — immaterial, mental entities that constitute reality

How does Hobbes view the social contract theory?

He sees it as the people consenting to be subject to the dictates and power of the state in return for security, rights, and liberties

How does Hobbes conceive of people?

He says they are basically selfish, dishonest, and violent with a strong instinct for self-interest and self-preservation

What does Hobbes think would happen without a social contract?

People would devolve into a state of nature with everyone fighting one another

What is a Leviathan?

According to Hobbes, an absolute sovereign that enforces covenants and keeps people in check with the social contract

How does Hobbes say we come to the conclusion to accept a social contract?

Through reason, we see that the only way to avoid conflict is through a social contract, which we do in the name of self-interest

How does Hobbes view justice and rights?

He thinks they do not come into being until a state is established 

How does Locke differ from Hobbes in terms of justice and rights?

Locke believes that humans have inherent, God given-rights whether or not there is a government to guarantee them

What is Locke’s view on rationalism and empiricism?

Locke argues against rationalism, maintaining that their are no innate ideas, the mind begins unmarked and is given content by sense experience

What does Locke think sense experience can reveal?

The existence of an external word, which we only experience through sense data we get from interacting with external objects → no direct knowledge of external objects

How does Locke reject scepticism?

He says that we know external objects are real because the theory that they exist is the best explanation for the sensation we have

How does Berkeley conceive of the external world?

He says that there are no material objects, only objects that exist as sensations in a mind → they are only real because they have been perceived by someone

How does Berkeley disagree with Locke?

He says that Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities is incorrect, since primary qualities are just as mind dependent as secondary ones

What is Berkeley’s argument against the existence of material objects?

That their existence is logically absurd, because if objects continue to be when they are not thought of, that would mean they could be conceived of as existing unconceived (that we can think about things that no one is thinking about), which he says is a logical contradiction → criticised for being based on logical confusion

What are the two kinds of knowledge according to Hume?

• Relations of ideas → truths of mathematics, truths of logic, those derived from reason

• Matters of fact → Information about the world that is based entirely on sense experience

What is the main difference between relations of ideas and matters of fact?

Relations of ideas can be known with certainty, but they are not informative about reality, while matters of fact cannot be known for certainty, but are informative about reality

What does Hume think should be the basis of all knowledge?

He think all knowledge must be traced back to perceptions → concludes that all theological and metaphysical speculations are worthless

What are Hume’s views on induction?

He asserts that neither reason nor experience can provide us with evidence that causal relationships exist, we only jump to conclusions about connections out of habit → the principle of induction is unfounded

What is the heart of Spinoza’s metaphysics?

Substance, which he declares is God, with entities in the world being features of this one eternal, divine substance

What does Spinoza argue about God’s existence?

That God exists necessarily, since God could not have failed to exist, nor could he have existed with any other attributes 

What does Spinoza think about free-will for God?

God is truly free, since his actions are determined by his own nature

What does Spinoza think about human free-will?

Humans are granted a kind of freedom where they are ultimately determined, but can still act freely and are in control of their own choices

How do Spinoza, Descartes, and Leibniz differ in terms of substance?

Spinoza conceives of one substance, Descartes conceives of two, and Leibniz maintains there are an infinite number of substances

What does Leibniz maintain about substance?

There are an infinite number of them, with monads making up compound material objects

How do monads act?

They are centres of rudimentary mental processes through which each monad mirrors the cosmos in its own fashion, with each mirror image being supplied by God → monads cannot be impacted from the outside, only by God

How does God manage monads?

He arranges them into a harmonious, intelligible reality

What does Leibniz think about free-will?

He thinks that God may incline our wills, but does not necessitate them

What does Leibniz think about God’s free-will?

God has free-will an had the freedom to select from many worlds the best possible world, the one in which we live now

What are the similar points between the social contract theories outlined by Hobbes and Locke?

• Reason enables people to see the wisdom of forming a state through a social contract

• People must freely consent to be bound by the contract

• The state’s authority is justified by this consent of the governed

How does Locke conceive of a state of nature (without government)?

He says there will still be natural moral laws with people being free, sociable, equal, and mostly at peace

What are the differences between Hobbes’ and Locke’s social contract theories?

• Hobbes views the state of nature as violent and brutish whereas Locke maintains that there will be natural moral laws

• Hobbes says that justice and rights only come into play when there is a Leviathan, Locke says that people have inherent rights whether or not there is a government

• Hobbes says that once an agreement has been made, a government is free to do as it pleases, whereas Locke says that is the government violates the rights of the citizens, it is no longer legitimate and citizens have the right to overthrow it

What does Locke mean in saying the mind is an unmarked ‘white paper’?

He is referring to how before sense experience, the mind is unmarked of ideas until sense experience gives it content

What is the main criticism towards Locke’s central idea?

That Locke has not given any reason to think that our sense data is proof of the existence of an external world, especially since, according to Locke, we cannot interface with the external world at all

What is Berkeley’s famous phrase describing his central ideas?

‘To be is to be perceived’

How do Berkeley’s ideas intersect with religion?

He believes that all objects are always being perceived by God, causing them to be as they are → God inserts a grand, intricate web of ideas into our minds and making up our world

What is the problem with induction according to Hume?

• It cannot be a priori truth → to deny a priori truth is self-contradiction, which is not true for induction

• It cannot be posteriori fact → no amount of empirical evidence can show it to be true, if it were to be established b experience then it would be established by itself (begging the question)

What are the two types of perceptions according to Hume?

• Impressions → raw sense data and psychological states

• Ideas → less vivid thoughts and reflections about impressions

How does Hume align with scepticism?

He says we can only know our own perceptions and can only guess at what lies beyond them → leads to scepticism about causality and reality

What did it mean for Spinoza to develop a rendering of Descartes philosophy ‘in geometric order’?

He laid it out in the form of a deductive geometry proof consisting of definitions, axioms, and derived propositions

What is Leibniz’s reasoning for monads?

There must be simple substances, since there are compound substances, and these substances cannot be material because materials can always be divided → immaterial, mind-like monads must be the substance