David Hume (1711 - 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, who is most famous for his highly influential system of empiricism. Adam Smith, Emmanuel Kant, Jeremy Bentham and Charles Darwin are among those great thinkers who remarked that reading Hume inspired them for developing their own theories.
Some of the best known statements of Hume:
1) On causation. Hume rejects the traditional notion of causality, which involves a necessary connection between cause and effect. For Hume, every single instance of causality is formed on the basis of repeated experience in the past rather than on reason.
2) On miracles. Hume argues that we could not have enough evidence to accept miracles. The evidence for miracles is defined as a violation of the laws of nature, while the evidence against miracles would be considered as the observation of the laws of nature. Since the laws of nature have been overwhelmingly established by our vast experience, the evidence for miracles is much less than the evidence against them.
3) On aesthetic evaluation. As an empiricist, Hume admits that there is a great variety of taste, but not to the extent that every taste is good. For Hume, the principles of beauty are universal and the same in all men. However, the organs of sensation are seldom so perfect to produce a feeling correspondent to those principles. A qualified judgement on any work of art should be improved by practice, perfected by comparison, and cleared of all prejudice.
