Hume maintained that all knowledge, even the most basic beliefs about the natural world, cannot be conclusively established by reason. Rather, he maintained, our beliefs are more a result of accumulated habits, developed in response to accumulated sense experiences. Among his many arguments Hume also added another important slant to the debate about scientific method — that of the problem of induction. Hume argued that it requires inductive reasoning to arrive at the premises for the principle of inductive reasoning, and therefore the justification for inductive reasoning is a circular argument. Among Hume's conclusions regarding the problem of induction is that there is no certainty that the future will resemble the past. Thus, as a simple instance posed by Hume, we cannot know with certainty by inductive reasoning that the sun will continue to rise in the East, but instead come to expect it to do so because it has repeatedly done so in the past. COUNT 5
QSN1 What did Hume think our beliefs are? ANS1 a result of accumulated habits, developed in response to accumulated sense experiences QSN2 What did Hume think our beliefs can't be established solely by? ANS2 reason QSN3 What did Hume think is a circular argument? ANS3 the justification for inductive reasoning QSN4 What did Hume say we can't know by inductive reasoning? ANS4 that the sun will continue to rise in the East QSN5 Why did Hume say we expect the sun to rise? ANS5 because it has repeatedly done so in the past