The practice and spread of religions and faiths during the middle ages had a significant impact on many western philosophers. The rise of Christianity, Islam and Monasticism called for the institution of theories and viewpoints that sought to explain the origin and existence of humanity. Consequently, this era saw the rise of many philosophers who were keen on developing principles that would be used to explain the roots of the universe and the reality of existence. In the historical context, most of the arguments provided by the philosophers were based on their personal comprehension of their civilization. The purpose of this essay is to explore the impact of the middle ages on western philosophical thought by analyzing the skepticism of David Hume.
Religion played a key role in influencing the philosophical foundations of key historical figures. The spread of Monasticism from the East to the West during the dark ages changed the perspective of Augustine who believed that faith was the answer to human’s sinful nature. Philosophical arguments of this era were based on faith and as such, they were useless without this aspect. Through Monasticism, individuals could explain the origin of the cosmos, human life and the ethical standards surrounding it. The rise of Islam as a perfection of Christianity and Judaism also changed the philosophical scope in the western civilizations. Since this faith was seen as a divine source of human law, it provided a new foundation for philosophers to base their arguments.
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The Skepticism of David Hume
David Hume’s skepticism changed the world view of the middle ages and the western philosophical thoughts. His empiricist principles were limited to a point where they narrowed the basic understanding of life and its existence. Hume’s lack of belief in God also limited the comprehension of the earth’s character to what people experienced. His work nullified any information that tried to explain the nature of the human species and their origins. He asserted that individuals could only discover their origins through personal sense impressions. For instance, when an individual accidentally hits their thumb with a hammer, they will create a strong and vivid impression of the event. The attention of the body will therefore be turned on the thumb which experiences pain at the moment. Consequently, when narrating the experience to another person, then the agony will be drawn from the experience of the initial expression.
All the ideas possessed by a human being are just but copies of previous impressions. This applies even to things that are yet to be perceived by the mind. It then follows that simple ideas are a combination of impressions that can represent the first appearance whereas complex ideas can be viewed as a combination of simple perceptions. This implies that anything that does not exist as an impression from the start can never exist in the future as an idea. Hume’s philosophy goes against the origin of man and the belief surrounding the creation theories.
The philosopher further asserts that it is impossible for a person to understand the nature of the world and its existence without the sense of perception. Hume’s Fork served as a restriction to the flexibility and operation of traditional philosophy. Consequently, he separated objects that fall under human inquiry into two categories; those that portray relations of concepts and those which describe factual matters. Even though he maintains that there are truths to a particular reason, the certainty of these realities can only exist demonstrably or intuitively. Hume’s doctrine talks of the inexistence of a middle ground between necessary truths and contingent truths. The realities of existence cannot be based on experience or any other factor that may attempt to provide an answer to the enigma.
The concept of logical positivism was entirely based on Hume’s Fork and it maintained that a proposition could only have a valid meaning if it is analytic or synthetic in terms of experience or principle. This means that to some extent, it might be impossible to discern the actual conditions that may be used to verify the existence of moral principles, human self and God. Since such entities are not self-evident, then it follows that the theories surrounding Hume’s Fork have some truth. Even though this concept supports Hume and his understanding of reality, there is still no sufficient evidence to prove that his findings were accurate. As a matter of fact, the theories surrounding his philosophy are baseless and misleading because they do not provide credible information that would discredit other creation theories.
Hume further argues that all ideas in a person’s life base their origin from a certain impression from the past. This theory contradicts the nature of reality and presents a falsified foundation for understanding the nature of life. The arguments presented by Hume are unfounded and as such, they misled individuals into believing that there is no God. The philosopher does not seem to explain where humanity came from and how the world was created. Hume only brought more confusion to individuals who believed in his theory of impressions. Any philosopher who seeks to provide a new angle on a particular topic must be able to provide relevant information to support his findings. In this case, Hume has failed in his attempt to change the scientific and religious belief of life’s existence and reality.
Hume contends that since God has no basis in terms of sense experience, then He cannot exist. No idea of this Supreme Being can exist since there is no impression. His perspective, however, does not seem to explain the nature of many other substances that exist in the human environment. Just because humans do not have an impression about something, it does not imply that they do cannot comprehend of its origin and existence. Otherwise many things in the universe would be baseless based on Hume’s radical views. Since human beings came into existence after the creation of other substances, then it follows that the true nature and character of their reality can only be understood by disregarding Hume’s skepticism.
In conclusion, the middle civilizations ad a great impact on the western philosophical thoughts. The rise of new religions and faiths to the west revolutionized the basic understanding of reality and the existence of humanity. They provided meaning to life through the teachings and beliefs of their doctrines. David Hume provided his own skeptic views regarding the nature and origin of the universe. Even though other philosophers support the arguments behind his principles, it is evident that his opinions lack substantiation and credibility. The concept of Hume’s Folk and logical positivism are therefore misguided notions on the existence of universal entities.
