David Hume and the Problem of Induction

Eighteenth-century Scottish philosopher David Hume argued that all human knowledge derives from sensory experience rather than innate knowledge. Because causation is based on our observations of past experience, we cannot logically predict the future. We assume the future will resemble the past and that the laws of nature are consistent, but we cannot prove it deductively. Imagining that the sun won't rise tomorrow, or that gravity will suddenly stop working, contains no logical contradiction. The mind can easily conceive of the universe turning into pure chaos. Hume concluded that reason cannot justify our beliefs about the future. We'll discuss this idea, Immanuel Kant's response, and modern science's attempt to answer Hume using probability and statistics.