William Of Ockham And David Hume - 931 Words

Question: Discuss the fascinating parallels between William of Ockham and David Hume, highlighting for example, the Regularist View of Causality. Answer: David Hume William of Ockham Hume did not deny causation. He embraced it. But he did say that empirical methods could not logically prove its necessity, as observations only show a constant conjunction of events, a regular succession of A followed by B, which leads the mind to the inference of cause and effect. For Hume, causality is something humans naturally believe. Ockham readily grants that if the world has to be â€Å"held up† by conserving causes, then there must be a first among them because otherwise the set of conserving causes would constitute an uncountable quantity of actually existing things. It is in fact a tenet of belief that God is both an efficient and conserving cause of the cosmos, and Ockham accepts this tenet on faith. We cannot logically know or prove causation and matters of fact, as we can know and prove the relations of ideas such as mathematics and logic. But we have a natural belief in causation and in many matters of fact. There would be an infinite regress among causes if there were not a first cause; therefore, there must be a first cause, namely, God. If the chain of efficient causes that have produced the world as we know it today had no beginning, then it would form, not an extensive infinity, but an intensive infinity, which is harmless. Reason cannot motivate our Beliefs. Reason isShow MoreRelatedPhilosophy Of The Middle Ages1124 Words   |  5 PagesGreek Forms which were then defined as ideas in the mind of God. It seems as though philosophy was able to progress when the concept of God was debated. Much of the debate that followed concerned the ideas of the general and the specific. As William of Ockham said, how can we talk about specific things until we talk about general things? We have examples of words and even objects that represent specific things but that does not mean there is an object that they represent. A word such as justice orRead MoreThe Design Argument For The Existence Of God1286 Words   |  6 Pagesand moon to sustain human life. If either of these things were less ideal, there would be drastically worse outcomes for the giraffes and humans on earth. The harmony we witness in nature compels the belief in an intelligent designer. Philosopher William Paley gives an example supporting this argument using a natural rock and a watch. He argues that in a forest if someone were to stumble upon a rock, they would not likely question why or how the rock came to be there, for all they know it has beenRead MoreFreedom and Determinism Essay2348 Words   |  10 Pagesdistinguished between the inclination toward the just and the inclination toward the advantageous; freedom results from the ability to choose between the two. The modern understanding of â€Å"free will† was most closely explained by the Franciscan William of Ockham. He believed an individual has the liberty to be indifferent, therefore making no choice at all. He also adopted an alternative understanding of predestination according to which some are predestined on account of their foreseen merits. AccordingRead MoreThe Design Argument - as Level Essay examples3128 Words   |  13 Pagesbeing we call God.’ He also championed the Analogy of the arrow directed by the archer showing that in order for something to end somewhere, there must be someone causing the movement, the arrow could not have ended us on the board on its own. William Paley, an 18th Century Philosopher continued to develop the principles of the Design argument, showing many more extended features to Socrates original concept. Paley championed the theory of design qua purpose and that a design requires a designerRead MoreBranches of Philosophy8343 Words   |  34 PagesAlfarabi, Alhazen, Avicenna, Algazel, Avempace, Abubacer and Averroes; the Jewish philosophers Maimonides and Gersonides; and the Christian philosophers Anselm, Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Peter Abelard, Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, William of Ockham and Jean Buridan. [edit] Renaissance (c. 1350–c. 1600) Main article: Renaissance philosophy [pic] [pic] Giordano Bruno The Renaissance (rebirth) was a period of transition between the theological philosophy of the Middle Ages and modern thoughtRead Morehistory of philosophy5031 Words   |  21 PagesArabic and Greek, and high medieval philosophy, which came about as a result of the recovery of Aristotle. This period, which lasted a mere century and a half compared to the nine centuries of the early period, came to a close around the time of  William of Ockham  in the middle of the 14th century. Western medieval philosophy was primarily concerned with implementing the Christian faith with philosophical reason, that is, baptizing reason. Early medieval philosophy was influenced by the likes of  StoicismRead MoreSources of Ethics20199 Words   |  81 Pagessimply wills things, and they become reality. He wills the physical world into existence, he wills human life into existence and, similarly, he wills all moral values into existence. Proponents of this view, such as medieval philosopher William of Ockham, believe that God wills moral principles, such as â€Å"murder is wrong,† and these exist in God’s mind as commands. God informs humans of these commands by implanting us with moral intuitions or revealing these commands in scripture. 17th