Deductive Reasoning - Hume's Skepticism

Hume's Skepticism

See also: Problem of induction

Philosopher David Hume presented grounds to doubt deduction by questioning induction. Hume's problem of induction starts by suggesting that the use of even the simplest forms of induction simply cannot be justified by inductive reasoning itself. Moreover, induction cannot be justified by deduction either. Therefore, induction cannot be justified rationally. Consequently, if induction is not yet justified, then deduction seems to be left to rationally justify itself – an objectionable conclusion to Hume.

Read more about this topic:  Deductive Reasoning

Famous quotes containing the words hume and/or skepticism:

    Consciousness never deceives.... We learn the influence of our will from experience alone. And experience only teaches us, how one event constantly follows another; without instructing us in the secret connexion, which binds them together, and renders them inseparable.
    —David Hume (1711–1776)

    No actual skeptic, so far as I know, has claimed to disbelieve in an objective world. Skepticism is not a denial of belief, but rather a denial of rational grounds for belief.
    William Pepperell Montague (1842–1910)