Page "Empiricism" Paragraph 22

The Scottish philosopher David Hume ( 1711 – 1776 ) responded to Berkeley's criticisms of Locke, as well as other differences between early modern philosophers, and moved empiricism to a new level of skepticism.

Hume argued in keeping with the empiricist view that all knowledge derives from sense experience, but he accepted that this has implications not normally acceptable to philosophers.

He wrote for example, " Mr. Locke divides all arguments into demonstrative and probable.

In this view, we must say, that it is only probable all men must die, or that the sun will rise to-morrow.

" And, " Mr. Locke, in his chapter of power, says that, finding from experience, that there are several new productions in nature, and concluding that there must somewhere be a power capable of producing them, we arrive at last by this reasoning at the idea of power.

But no reasoning can ever give us a new, original, simple idea ; as this philosopher himself confesses.

This, therefore, can never be the origin of that idea.