Study Questions on Hume

-What are the two styles of philosophy according to Hume?  Which one does he prefer and why?

-What is an “impression”?  Where do our ideas come from?  Which of the two, ideas or impressions, is a better way to know the world and why?

-How are ideas associated? (I.e. what are resemblance, contiguity, and cause and effect?)

-What are “relations of ideas” and “matters of fact” and what are the differences between them?

-What is the relation between “cause” and “effect”?

-Why does Hume think that there is not a necessary connection between cause and effect?

-What is the basis of the connection we make?

-What is the role of counter-example in his analysis of cause and effect?

-What is the “skeptical problem” for Hume that arises as a consequence of his analysis of cause and effect?  (Note:  this is often called the “problem of induction.”)

-What are the roles of belief, custom, and habit in his response to the skeptical problem?

-In what sense does Hume think we are free?  What is the difference between a compatibilist and incompatibilist conception of freedom?