Observations on the Nature and Tendency of the Doctrine of Mr. Hume Concerning the Relation of Cause and Effect (1806)

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OBSERVATIONS ox THE

NATURE AND TENDENCY OF THE

DOCTRINE OF

Mr.

HUME,

CONCERNING

THE RELATION OF

CAUSE AND EFFECT. BY

THOMAS BROWN,

M. D.

Second Edition, enlarged.

EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR MUNDELL AND •J

SO.V^

SOLD IN LONDON BY LONGMAN, HURST, RDES, & ORAIFPVTr.R-NOSTER ROW, J. MURRAY, FLEET-STR EI, ^>r» T. OSTLLL, AVE-MARIA. LANE. i"

From

the very considerable length of

Author the

regrets, that,

first

if

many of

the Notes,

perusal of the work, they destroy that continuity of ar~

gument, which

it

Avas his great

wish to preserv e.

He would have

placed them at the close of the Volume, had he

extent in sufficient time relate to

the

read in their present situation, during

;

Mr. Hume's original Treatise of

not written the press.

till

known

their

but those of greatest length, which

Human

Nature, were

a very large part of the work had passed through

He

must therefore leave

it

to the kindness of his

Readers to rectify the error, and must request them to follow the continued text, without interrupting and suspending the ar-

gument, by attention to the Notes.

These, being rather discus-

sions of subjects connected with the general argument, than ne-

cessary elucidations of

it,

may be

afterwards read, as

if

appended.

ERRATA. Page ap, ••

line 14.

For

the philosophers, re3.d philosophers.

— 134? —— 6 of the note, for ehrvaticns, read observations.

QO syeooo

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

X HE

Author of the following Observations

too sensible of the respect which Public, not to feel to

it

the

work of

it

first

due to the

reluctance, in giving

a few days.

question seems, at in

some

is

is

A metaphysical

view, to have so

little

of local or temporary interest, that,

when

no opportunity of discussing

com-

there

is

pletely,

it

may be

it

delayed without any

loss.

But, in the present case, there are circumstances,

which claim, even for one of the abstrus-

est questions

of metaphysics, the indulgence

usually given to the fleeting matters of the day.

6

A

PHILOSOPHER, of great and deserved

scientific

celebrity, recently appointed

to the

chair of mathematics in the university of Edin-

burgh, has been opposed, for his approbation of Mr. Hume's Essay on necessary connection,

by a body of men, who, from the general terary character fession,

and the

li-

sanctity of their pro-

may be presumed

to

be

at

once well

acquainted with the nature of heresy, and cha^ ritably sparing in the imputation of

it.

On

a

reference from them, this subject, unquestionably of the greatest importance,

come

about to

for decision before the highest ecclesiasti-

cal court in Scotland.

to the

is

It

occurred, therefore,

Author of the following pages,

would not be ly the steps

uninteresting, to

by which Mr.

that

it

examine minute-

Hume was

led to his

general conclusion on the Nature of Cause and Effect, that,

by appreciating the value of the

sepiarate propositions,

we might be

the better

able to discover the truth or the falsehood, as

7 well as the tendency, of the whole connected doctrine.

voured

In this investigation, he has endea-

to avoid every allusion to the personal

circumstances which called

it

forth,

the question exactly in the same

and

to treat

manner

as

he

would have done, had no reference on the subject

be?n pending before any tribunal.

A 2

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

JL

HE Essay which

follows

is

now

presented to

the lovers of metaphysical disquisition, in a larger

form than

appeared.

As

it

that

ject of

which

it

was then written

the view of giving public mind,

in

some

to

chiefly with

satisfaction

on an obscure and

controversy,

originally

to the

difficult

sub-

which peculiar

cir-

cumstances had attracted a very general interest, it

was

limited, as strictly

as

possible, to

an

examination of the theory on which the controversy had arisen. I

In the present

edition^,

have ventured occasionally to take a wider

range, and to add such reasonings and reflec-

A 3

10

seemed necessary

as

tions,

to elucidate fully

the very important questions which are involv-

ed in the philosophy of cause and the same time, thing, light

I

trust that I

which does not serve

to

At

effect.

have added no-

throw additional

on those peculiar opinions of Mr. Hume:^

which

it

Of the magnify

my

was

primary object to discuss.

error which has led philosophers to

his scepticism,

by representing him

as:

denying, not merely the perception or hiference of power, as a quality of bodies, but the

very idea of power, as an existing phenomenon

of mind, no notice was taken in the former edition

;

ment of

as

it

was thought that a simple

his real doctrine

to correct the error.

Its

would be

state-

sufficient

universal prevalence,

however, pei'haps required a more particular confutation

;

and, accordingly, in the present

edition, the mistake of

be supposed

to

Dr. Reid, which

may

have had the chief influence in

11 prejudicing the public sentiment on the subject, is

examined

at considerable length.

on the metaphysical

If the criticism

Mr.

Hume

of

be severer than coincides with the

general opinion, to

style

trust

I

it

be supposed

will not

have arisen from any wish of detracting

from the reputation of

The

pher.

that

eminent philoso-

which he undoubtedly pos-

talents,

sessed, are of so high a rank, that he

bear to merit

;

may

well

be estimated according to his real

and

it

would be

as absurd to

deny

his

acuteness and subtlety, and the easy graces of his composition,

as

it

fame, to assert, that his

is

unnecessary for his

mode of

scientific de-

monstration

is

possible to

imagine a more convincing proof

faultless.

It is,

indeed, scarcely

of that want of regularity and perspicuity of statement, which

— —

than the fact to be a fact

I

if,

that,

have ventured to object,

on examination,

from the

first

it

be found

appearance

12 of his theory of causation

till

now, he has been a proposition,

universally believed to assert

which

is

not merely altogether different from the

real doctrine of his

work, but

tradiction to the great

vades

is

in direct con-

argument which per-

it.

^^HE

analysis of the particular theory

is at-

tempted to be so conducted in the following Essay, as to be in truth an analysis of our belief

of causation, and, consequently, of our idea

of power. this

A

series

of analytical inquiries of

kind, if conducted with precision, would

probably remove at present

much of

that obscurity

darkens our metaphysics

must not assent

to

:

which

for

the opinion of those,

we

who

consider the discussions of metaphysics as relating only to verbal

definition

of phenomena

previously understood, and to the mere arrange-

ments of nomenclature, which afford no addition to our real

knowledge.

It is a science which ^

13

though

it

may

not deserve those extravagant

honours that were once lavished on

But

edly a science of no vulgar rank. science

expectation

it is

as

a

to

its

v^e look with great

of improve-

susceptibility

There may undoubtedly be

thesis in

ideas

assur-

of analysis^ that the philosophy of mind

must be considered, wh.en

ment.

it, is

miind, as well as

may be

direct syn-

matter.

in

New

presented to our understanding,

and new objects of emotion to our passions.

The whole

process of education

tinued synthesis

on previous skilfully

;

but

it is

analysis,

indeed a con-

is

a synthesis

and, even

founded

when most

conducted, resembles more the opera-

tion of an ingenious artisr, in

his attempt to

produce, in the shortest and easiest manner, a

known

result,

who forms

than of a philosophic chemist,

combinations of bodies, in the con-

fidence of deriving from

gether new.

That

vve

them a product shall

alto-

be able, by any

intentional or accidental union of circumstan-

14 ces, to

produce phenomena of mind, generical-

ly different

from those which the mind has yet

exhibited,

it

scarcely reasonable to hope;

is

though of species already known we may multiply instances

The

indefinitely.

application

of new substances to our organs of sense excite in us

new

will of

new remembrances,

course be productive of

new

and these

sensations,

and new comparisons.

desires,

original

thought, whatever be

itself a

new phenomenon

which have been long

may

;

its

Every

subject,

and even

ideas,

may be

familiar to us,

variously and beautifully combined

is

by the ima-

gination, in almost inexhaustible series of as-

semblages. are only

known that

Yet

it

must be confessed,

new phenomena of

to us,

we

these,

shall

species already

and give us no reason

to hope,

become acquainted with

of phenomena, so

little

classes

similar to the past, as

not to be referable to any of those, which

we

have comprehended under the general names

15 oi sensation, memory^ imagination, judgmenl:^

and the various other terms of thought or emotion, in the nomenclature of mind.

It is

that

not by synthetic experiment, therefore,

eypect our knowledge of mind to

we can

be^ greatly improved

;

account to suppose that

impossibility of the

nomy, because *

Though

in the

is

on

that

not improvable

Newtonian system of

was not

direct experiment

importance

less

it

it

are not

:

equal reason, assert the

we might, with

for

we

but

in the

is

astro-

power of

its

undoubtedly of much

physics of mind, than the analysis,

and even than the generalization, of those phenomena

which spontaneously

arise, it

must not be considered,

even in that science, as an instrument of little value. In the

department of

and

by

in the

it

which

is

included in medical pathology',

mental excitement and depression produced

certain classes of medicines,

interesting

many

subjects of very

experiment present themselves.

Even on

phenomena, which seem to be more simple and constant,

much

light

may

thus be thrown.

ear, for instance,

lar an

anomaly,

general law,

which

The want

of musical

at present appears so very singu-

may perhaps be reduced to some

familiar

by experiments which have not yet occur-

red to inquirers in physiologv.

16 great

discoverer,

disarrange

to

and subject

at his will,

Experiment

riment.

their is

planets

motions to expe-

indeed valuable, not

as furnishing us with results, essential

the

which are

any

in

circumstance different from those of

observation, but only as increasing, in cases in

which we

them, the number of

chiefly desire

observations.

The

difference

tual change, but in the

the change

;

and the

is

not in the ac-

power which produces

definitions of each there-

fore admit of mutual conversion.

say of any

new

experiment^ that

servation of those

it

We is

may

an ob-

phenomena, which nature

presents to us at our desire, and of any otservatio72y that

it is

new

the witnessing of an

e.r-

periment^ which nature herself has instituted

and performs before

us.

But

if

from experi-

ment, or from reasoning on experiment, derive an accession to our knowledge, surely of

it

we is

no consequence, whether the ex-

periment have been performed by ourselves

17

by

or

deed,

it is

known us,

may if

others.

to

In

the

case

of mind, in-

urged, that the functions must be us, because they are

exercised by

and are exercised equally well, though we never have reflected on their nature

our exercise of a function was, of

sufficient

itself,

proof of our knowledge of

circumstances which combine in

it.

as

;

all

a

the

The most

minute acquaintance with the laws of our corporeal physiology does not enable us to invent

a single

vital function,

or to perform the ordi-

nary functions in any respect better, than they are exercised by the rudest of our race

even though

it

had no

disease, physiology interest

and

;

yet,

relation to the cure of

would be a science of much

instruction.

It is surely

then by a

very singular prejudice, that the physiology of

mind has been sometimes represented, science which can teach us nothing,

mere circumstance, paind are exercised

that the

as a

from the

same functions of

by the ignorant and the

18 All philosophy

learned.

operations of synthesis in the complicated

IS

;

is

not confined to the

and of

analysis, there

phenomena of mind an

almost inexhaustible source, which, in

many

cases, furnishes results as wonderful, as

any of

which the furnace and the prism have

those,

In the mind of man,

exhibited.

To remember^ to

gation.

hope, idea

all

all is

compare, to

aggre-

fear, to

imply more than the simple original

which

is

their subject

;

aad often

form

to

a single judgment, or a single passion, innumerable circumstances have concurred.

It is

in the

power of analysis to retrace those circumstances j and,though we cannot decompose thecompound,

and exhibit

it

in definite parts,

we

can state the

order of combination, and discover, in some of the leading circumstances, analogies which

connect the * aggregate with other compound *

It

is

not meant to be asserted, that any conception

or passion of the ideai or desires,

mind

is

the union of a

number of

which have actual separate existence.

The most complex

of our feelings

is still,

we have

every

19 That, by a process of

feelings.

perform

in niind

an office similar, in

to that of the chemist in

scarcely perceived

by us

;

effect,

external matter,

is

because the frequent

use of material solvents, with

and

the vivid

marked changes which they present

well

we

this kind,

to

our

organs of sense, tends to induce the belief, that,

where such solvents are not employed,

there

is

no

analysis

but reason

:

strument of analysis in mind.

is

To

reason to believe, but one affection.

It

the in-

itself

require, that

is

termed

poundt rather as being preceded by certain ideas, consisting of them.

But,

in

such cases,

we

tf-

com-> •

i

as

id by

are

the very constitution of our nature, to considtr the af. fection as equhalent to certain others,

ner as

if it

actually involved them.

m

the sa-r" man-

It

is

on

tin.

Ten-

dency that the mathematical sciences are wholly fou ded.

Though our

idea o^ ten

as our idea of one,

the other

when we in

;

we

is

as

much one

consider

affection of

as involving

it

and we perfectly understand what

are told that one

this sense

only, as

a

is

mind,

many of i:.

meant,

a fraction of ten.

It

is

feeling of equivalence, rather

than a perception of number, that I speak of the ana. jytic

power of the mind.

that relation

But to the mind, which

of equivalence,

it

is

precisely the

feels

same

thing, as the perception and separation of actual number.

20 it

should decompose

hibit

them

its

compounds, and

in parts to the eye, or to

organ of external sense,

mand

;

for the process

is

ex=^

any other

an absurd

is

de-

wholly internal, and

has regard, not to actual number, but only to those relations of our ideas, of which

we

are

conscious, and which exist only in our con-

The

sciousness. it

is

subject

and the instrument,

confessed, are different

other respect, the parallel

is

;

but in every

complete.

analyse our thoughts, by reflection, as lyse matter,

mere

we

by the use of other matter.

We ana-

The

functions, indeed, as the powers of me-

monj and comparison^ we do not attempt thus to simplify, but only the ideas

remembered and

compared: for the functions themselves are in truth nothing

more than

the names of certain

general circumstances of resemblance, in classes

of the phenomena of mind,

like

the general

circumstances of resemblance, in the material

world, to which

we

give the ilame of laws of

21 action

;

and we never attempt

to analyse cor-

puscular attraction or repulsion^ but only to separate the heterogeneous particles, which are

attracted or repelled. tion,

It is

some general func-

however, that most readily occurs to us,

when we think of mind

;

and, as

all

men

knovvr

equally well that they

remember and compare,

a superficial thinker

may

ceive, that all

men know

thus be led to con-

equally well the com-

plex intellectual phenomena included in those functions.

An

error of this kind could not

have arisen, had any of the more complex

phenomena of mind been consideration.

The

originally taken into

feelings

of taste and of

moral approhation, for instance, but

how few

exist in all

are conscious of the

and emotions, associated perhaps

at

many

j

ideas

very distant

times, which mingle in the feelings. In the

same

manner, every one perceives rocks and flowers,

and the various other bodies on the surface of the earth,

though he may be wholly incapable of

a: :

The

distinguishing their elemental constituents.

separation of these elements

is

operation of ingenious labour

;

confessedly an

but

it

requires

a process of analysis, at least as refined, to fix the theories of taste and of moral approbation

and the only difference difference

which

our admiration,

To

cases,—

certainly should not diminish

—

is,

process

that the

formed, without any apparatus.

in these last

visible

is

per-

and complicated

say, that all the materials of the

process exist, and have always existed, in our consciousness,

Is

no more than

to say, that the

materials of combustion, the theory of

which

has only of late been opened to us, exist, and

have always existed, in our

The

common

fires.

very same materials were used, for the

dally purposes of

life,

long before philosophers

had Inferred the laws of

their

combination

from discoveries made by the addi-

nor was

It

tion of

any new substance, that the modern

theory of combustion arose, but only from

at«

23 tentlon paid to circumstances, which,

though

before disregarded, had been always open to

our observation, and from the

just neglect of

circumstances, which had been imagined with-

There

out proof.

is

surely, therefore, nothing

absurd in the supposition, that, by attention to circumstances before unregarded, and perhaps too by the omission of at present

we may

some hypotheses which

may have been

discover

new

too easily admitted,

analogies and relations of

thought.

The

various prejudices, to which even the

most philosophic mind is a

sufficient proof, that

subject, are themselves

man, though conscious

of every aggregate conception, as one existing

compound,

is

parts.

often a single idea in the

It is

not conscious of

the presence of which

by

is

all its

elemental

compound,

wholly unsuspected

us, that decides the feeling of approbation

or disapprobation, of truth or of falsehood,

B 2

;

0^4

with which the

compound

is

viewed

;

and the

opinion would, in such cases, be altogether reversed,

if

could be

the presence of the extraneous idea

made sufficiently

comprehended

in the

apparent.

The

ideas,

word government^ are

perhaps not the same in any two individuals

and

still

more probable

individual

is

accuracy, his is,

is it,

that not a single

able to analyse to himself, with

own very general

however, a good or a bad

conception.

citizen,

He

independ-

ently of that analysis, and merely as the great-

er

number of images, of

curity

and peace, prevail

oppression, or of sein the

compound, so

as to excite the feeling of respect or of disaffection.

Even

liberty itself, that truly British

name, has often become a term of unjust suspicion, even to

men who have been disinterest-

ed and virtuous, and desirous of the happiness of their race, in those unfortunate times, when the name, which they would otherwise have

revered, has been profaned, by the turbulence

^6 of faction, and associated with any recent and therefore lively images of the horrors of revolutionary licentiousness.

To make all men con-

scious of the elemental parts of their various

conceptions and belief, would be, in truth, to destroy the empire of prejudice over the hu-

man

understanding.

The

feeling of astonishment

may be always

considered, as a proof of the discovery of some striking circumstance before

mere learning of is

acquired with

ment and ;

The

unknown.

new name, where no

a it,

idea

never produces astonish-

therefore, if the philosophy of

mind

were only the invention of names, for ideas already conceived and understood in relations, its

most refined

not surprised, w^hen we hear, for the

y^b,

that

is

their

disquisitions w^ould

be received by us without emotion.

ih^X judgment

all

We first

are

time,

a substantive and to judge

animus

is

2i

the Latin synonime of

B 3

26 mind^ and memoire the French of memory

and though the

citizen, in Moliere's

was astonished

to find, that

prose

without knowing

all his life

f

comedy^

he had spoken it,

his aston-

ishment did not arise from the mere name, but

from the discovery,

that a

word, which he had

formerly considered as expressive of some mysterious excellence of language,

We are

had so very

astonished,

when

we

learn, that a part of the tasteless air

which

we

breathe

simple a meaning.

is

the source of acidity

ing learned that property,

we

feel

;

but, hav-

no prolonga-

tion of our astonishment, in being told, that

the

name oxygene

the atmosphere.

is

given to that portion of

It is sufficient, therefore, for

the present argument, that surprise in us

by the results of analytical inquiry

and excited

in

many

excited

is

in

mind,

cases as strongly, as

by

those discoveries in chemical analysis, which are universally allowed to -add to our ledge.

The

know-

vulgar would gaze with astonish-

3

21 were they to perceive an

tnent,

flame gunpowder with an

would not be

less

electrician in-

icicle

;

but they

confounded by those dazzl-

ing subtleties, with which metaphysicians would

persuade them, that the very actions, which they feel to be benevolent and disinterested,

had

their source in the

ishness,

of

principle of self-

which makes man a knave or a

.Whether false, is

same

that particular doctrine

of no consequence

:

are nearly as wonderful

;

be true or

the whole theory

moral sentiments presents

oiir

tyrant.

results,

and indeed the

ness of any particular doctrine

is itself

mena

men had

false-

one of

the strongest arguments that can be urged if all

hich

v>

:

for,

equal knowledge of the pheno-

of their mind, no one could advance an

opinion on the subject, with real belief of

which another could discover

to

it,

be erroneous

In the different stages of the growth of a pas' sion,

what a variety of appearances does

sume

5

and how

it

as-

difficult is it often to trace, in

'2S

the confusion and complication of the paroxysm,

those calm and simple emotions, in which, in

many

cases,

it

originated

!

A very small num.ber

of circumstances, which have perhaps nothing in themselves that

seems capable of any great

and v/hich would probably have been

influence,

and have passed away in

slightly felt,

ference, if they had

indif-

occurred to others, are

often sufficient to determine to vice, or virtue, that

which

is

as yet

nothing more, than an ob-

scure and indefinite desire of something unpossessed.

The

love of domestic praise,

and

of the parental smile of approbation, which

gave excellence to the

may expand,

with

first efforts

little

of the child,

variation,

into the

love of honest and honourable fame, or, in

more unhappy circumstances, may shoot from

its

natural direction, into

all

and madness of atrocious ambition. cases, the self-deception

is

out,

the guilt In

many

even greater, than

the mistakes of unphilosophic observers.

That

1>9

which

a contradiction in language, and even

IS

in thought, has

human

gance of

been

verified in the extrava-

passion.

same moment, and even love

at the

tensely,

when

it is

is

The

very fury of jea-

often nothing more, than the ardour of

affection, united with

ces,

some

trifling

of dread, and suspicion,

vanity

;

m.ost in-

conscious of nothing but of

malignant resentment. lousy

can love and hate,

It

but the

circumstan-

and mortified

compound emotion

resemblance to that which

is its

bears

little

great constitu-

How

different is the passion of the miser,

as viewed

by himself, by the vulgar, and by

ent.

the philosophers ly of the

!

He

is

conscious himself on-

accuracy of his reasonings on the

probabiHties of future poverty, of a love of

economy and of temperance, and perhaps justice.

To common

observers he

lover of money.

They

the passion in

mature

its

is

too of

only a

content themselves with state

;

and

it

would not

be easy to convince them, that the most

self-

30 denying avarice involves as

its

essence, or at

least originally involved, the love

of those very

pleasures and accommodations, which are sacrificed to

it

without the

least

now

apparent re-

luctance.

The

theory of taste

is

as that of the passions.

at least as

The

feeling of beauty,

so various and yet so immediate, to us with

all

men

;

complicated

is

common

but philosophers are

still

contending, as to the circumstances which combine in producing as

much an

it,

while to the vulgar it seems

absolute quality of objects, as their

colour, or even their stature and form.

The

great national differences of Miaste, as exempli-

fying the

power of the

associating principle in

producing them, strike upon our conviction^ with

irresistible

force; but even

within the

same range of mountains, the same trict,

ly

the same family, the variety

conspicuous.

little

dis-

is

sufficient-

To comprehend

fully the

SI pleasure, art^

which

results

from any one work of

or scene of nature,

it

would perhaps be

necessary, that the whole series of sensations

and emotions

in the individual,

from the

first

enjoyments of his infancy, should be laid open to

There

our discrimination.

manent and unbounded something which

is,

in the per-

loveliness of nature,

and

strikes us, as too great

sublime, to have sprung from our

own

thoughts, and fugitive enjoyments.

When we

first

consider these as

learn to

its

little

source,

wq

have, in a greater degree, that half-incredulous

astonishment, which must have been experi-

enced by those, who, having cast their eyes for the

first

time on a temple of ancient Greece,

and feeling a sentiment of more than earthly awe, as

if

it

were the dwelling of the Thunder-

er himself, found,

who was

inhabited

it,

on entering,

that the

though imaged by Praxiteles,

only a

frail

and

blance of their

own

imperfect humanity.

sdll

God

finite

form, the resem-

32 If the

were

knowledge of the mental phenomena

in all

men

of the same kind, the only

dif-

ference in individuals would be in the number of their ideas

;

and there could be no

difference, in

that discernment of the relations ofideas, in

we suppose sagacity, and

invention, and

higher powers of the mind to consist

we

admit, that one

man

:

which all

the

for, if

m.ay discern better than

another the relations of those ideas which both equally possess,

we must

admit, that one

man

may discern innumerable relations, which others have not perceived, and therefore, that the science of m-ind, which

is

the science of those

relations, is capable of a degree of

ment, to which

Even

in

we

cannot

fix

improve-

any bound.

phenomena, which seem so simple, as

scarcely to have admitted combination,

wonders have been developed by quiry

!

Perception

itself,

what

scientific in-

that primary function

of the mind, which was surely the same before Berkeley examined the laws of vision as

33

now

at present, is

regarded by us very

ently, in relation to the

organs ; and all

it

differ-

most important of

would not be easy

its

amid

to find,

the brilliant discoveries of modern chemistry,

and even

in the

whole range of the physics of

matter, a proposition

more completely

ing to popular belief, than that which

revolt-

now

it is

easy to demonstrate, that the sense of sight,

which seems

to bring

the farthest hills of the

most extended landscape, and the very boundlessness of space, before utterly incapable of

our view,

is,

of

shewing us a single

itself,

line

of

longitudinal distance.

^ro attempt to enumerate the various lectual lysis,

phenomena, which are capable of ana-

would be a waste of labour.

preceding reasoning

may

unnecessarily minute its

intel-

tediousness

is

my

:

Even

the

perhaps have appeared

and

my only apology for

anxiety, that the science of

mind, to the future progress of which

I

cannot

54 look with indifference,

which

is

—

perhaps better

as the progress of that fitted

than any other

science, to give a general elevation to our faculties

and

pursuits,

and a steadiness and pre-

cision to those amiable propensities of

ture, which, without the

our na-

knowledge of

away

importaiit end, might pass

their

in false,

short, and frivolous benevolence,

and

—should be

rescued from the influence of a prejudice, which, if unfortunately received, w^ould

dour of

intellectual

quench

investigation.

all ar-

The

opi-

nion, which asserts the real knowledge of the

phenomena of mind in

all,

lliat

it

has indeed so

to

be alike and uniform

little

semblance of truth,

even a single argument in confutation of

may be thought

liave not

superfluous

;

and,

if all

the same knowledge of the pheno-

mena, the science of mind provable science, and

may

is

evidently an im-

continue to receive

light

from further inquiry,

9S

has already received light from inquiries

it

which are

past.

in the

same manner

35

The

our belief of cause and

which, in conformity with

fect, is

analysis of

this principle,

attempted in the following essay,

hoped, throw some additional

The

very important theory. in this,

as

in

many

which terminates

ef-

will, it ia

light

on

question

that

is

not

other speculations, one

in itself, but

connected

is

with every other inquiry, in the physics both

of matter and of mind.

From

a single mis-

conception, on this subject, arose

all

those hy-

potheses and abstractions, which wasted, for so

many

ages, the labour of ingenious

men,

in

rendering physics either a jargon of unintelli^

romance of an

gible sounds, or the It is

no small part of

quainted with

its

science, to

between phenomena, the mind of its

be well ac-

boundaries of inquiry.

long as any mysterious connection

from

ideal world.

is

As

supposed

man

must,

very nature, be curious to investigate

that mysterious tie

;

nor

^nge^ that the discovery

will the simple assuris

impossible, be suf-

ficieiiL

to destroy the curiosity,

and thus to pre-

vent the mvestigation that seeks to gratify It is

cf

much consequence

know,

to

it.

that the

invariablcness of antecedence and consequence,

which tion,

is

is

represented as only the sign of causaitself

the only essential circumstance

of causation, that

we

are not merely ignorant

of any thing third and intermediate, but have in truth

ing,

no reason

and that

this

to suppose

it

as really exist-

simple theory, instead of be-

ing in opposition to the sublime doctrines of religion,

is

equally favourable to

more mysterious

make

them

theory, or rather tends to

the great doctrines of religion

telligible

as the

more

in-

and sublime, by simplifying the ana-

logies of

hum.an order and

volition,

and by

destroying that supposed circumstance between the will cf Deity and the creation of the w^orld, which;, if

it

will, at least

be not greater than the creating seems

to divide with

it

deur and the glory of the magnificent

the graneffect.

;

OBSERVATION'S

CAUSE AND EFFECT.

That

Mr. Hume was an

acute thinker

taphysics, there are probably none, his

most daring antagonists,

to deny.

That he was

who

will

m me-

even of venture

also a perspicuous

me-

taphysical writer^ has been generally admitted

but

it

has been admitted, chiefly as a conse-

quence of the former

membrance of other respects,

that

praise, or

power of

from the

style,

re-

which, in

he unquestionably possessed.

In his shorter details of historical reasoning, no defect

is

perceived

;

because these afford

for the display of acute conjecture,

room

and of a

happy combination of those loose circumstances, which

to

common

observers appear altogether

unconnected, rather than for regular consecuc

38 tive

But, as a metaphysical

demonstration.

writer,

Hume

Mr.

is

in

no degree superemi-

nent in those qualities, which the devehpement

of an abstruse and complicated science pecu-

He

liarly requires.

seize s a first prin ciple, in-

deed, with singuSrrapidity ther exhibits

than brings

it

it

but, to us, he ra-

;

gracefully at different distances,

regularly and directly to the best

point of vision

:

and though,

the separate

in

views which he gives us of a subject,

we

are

always struck with the acuteness of his discern-

ment, and are often charmed with an ease of language and a pointedness of remark, which, without the levity of humour, have ful graces,

still,

v»^hen

we

expositor of a theory,

want of

strict

consider

we

methodical

all its

him

play-

as the

are sensible of a

arrangement,

for

which subtlety of thought, and grace of composition, are not able fully to atone.

most discover, that

his

We al-

mind had not been con-

versant with the close and continuous investigations of mathematical science that

it is

;

and we

feel,

the genius of his style, to illustrate^

rather than to establish.

39

The want

of strictness of method

may

per-

haps also be traced in part to those habits of

seems to have

refined scepticism, in which

it

been the early and

passion

Hume's mind

lasting

to indulge.

detection of fallacies in

of

belief,

was more

It

common

the

Mr.

of

in the

systems

than in the discovery of truths which

might be added

to

them, that he loved to ex-

ercise his metaphysical ingenuity

the detection of fallacies was

or, rather,

;

species of

that

discovery of truth, in which he chiefly delighted.

It

is

by the love of

which usually accompanies daring

curiosity, not

this unlimited

by the

that the intellectual character is

however,

display,

and

curiosity

itself,

vitiated.

There

is

a calm and silent scepticism of an inquisitive

spirit,

which has nothing

able, either to

in

it

that

unfavour-

is

closeness of reasoning in the

discovery of truth, or to exactness of theoretical

arrangement, in the communication of

to others. all

Such a

spirit is

even so essential to

inquiry, that the absence of

may be

it

it

in

any one

considered as a sufficient proof, that

he has not the genius of a metaphysician

c2

:

for

40 the science of metaphysics alysis

is

a science of an-

and we carry on our

;

when we

suspect that

ed a simple element.

analysis,

we have It is

only

not yet obtain-

not, therefore,

from

such doubts as have only further inquiry in view, that any important evil can arise

but there

:

is

a very great difference between the scepticism,

which seeks

first

principles only to

know where

inquiry must terminate, and that which seeks

them, only to discover and proclaim their apparent inconsistencies. is

thus produced

that there

is

;

and,

Astonishment indeed it

must be confessed,

a sort of triumphant delight in

the production of astonishment, which

it is

not

easy to resist, especially in that* early period

of

when

life,

the love of fame

is

little

more

than the love of present wonder and admiration.

But he who indulges

and seeks, with an

in the pleasure,

idle vanity

of acuteness, to

dazzle, rather than to enlighten, will find, that

though he may have improved *

We

Human ^ollegx!.

his subtlety,

by Mr. Hume, that

by

his Treatise

on

Nature was projected by him before he had

left

are told

41 exercises of nice and unprofitable discernment,

he has improved

the expence of those

at

it

powers of patient investigation, which give to subtlety

chief value.

its

sideration

of

to

perpetual con-

of the insufficiency of

inquiry,

all

may

from inconsistencies which

as deduced

seem

The

be involved

belief, is

in

some of our

more encouraging

than to perseverance

;

principles

to indolence

and though, from the

principle of curiosity, which, in our mental constitution, has almost the force of appetite,

it

intellectual

may

an animal

not be able to preclude the

exercise of our faculties,

it

will

tend to seduce them into a luxurious slothfulness of occupation, which prefers short and brilliant novelties, to truths

of permanent

lity,

but of more laborious research.

that

it is

To

uti-

shew,

not from any logical inference, or di-

rect induction, that

we have

derived

many of

those opinions, which, by the very constitution

of our nature,

it

is

impossible for us not to

hold, requires indeed a perspicacity and quickness of glance, but does not require any process of long continued reasoning.

c 3

The very

:

42 habit of ratiocination

which

subtlety,

and

antithesis

naturally

is,

:

is

odium attached

in

cessity,

thus apt to yield to a

almost refined into point

is

and

this

still

tendency, strong as

it

increased by the popular

to infidelity, in the great ar-

of general

ticles

is

belief,

many

which induces the ne-

cases, of exhibiting subjects

only by glimpses, and of hinting, rather than enforcing

a

A

proof.

long habituated to

mind, ahat has been

this rapid

and

lively species

of remark, does not readily submit to the regularity

of slow disquisition.

better fitted, for

;

immediately acute, or subtle,

that

is

grasping a single

than for unfolding a theory

but

It

we have some

evidently principle,

and we term

it

or ingenious

hesitation, in ascribing to

it

peculiar quality of intellect, which sees

through a long clusion, sential

train of

and separating

thought a distant conat

every stage the es-

from the accessory circumstances, and

gathering and combining analogies as itproceeds, arrives at truth.

length at a system of harmonious

It is

cessary, but

a quality to which acuteness

which

is

not

is

ne-

itself necessarily

im.

43 plied in acuteness

or rather

;

tion of qualities, for

a combina-

it is

which we have not yet an

exact name, but which forms a peculiar cha-

and

racter of genius,

of

is

in truth the very spirit

philosophic investigation.

all

Whatever may have been the source of the very manifest imperfection of arrangement in the

physics, there

no portion of

is

which the objection

is

more

trine, all the parts

The

The

ed to us. incessantly, tical

effect in a single

doubts

;'

mode

in

which

it is

repetition of the

and, even

same

when

irre-

present-

train of propositions is

by a

to

general doc-

obscured and perplexed, by the

gular and dilatory

'

works

of which might apparently

have been stated with greater is

his

applicable, than to

the essays on causation.

essay,

Hume's meta-

of Mr.

part

theoretical

the

broken '

scep-

whole

doctrine has been presented to us, the whole doctrine

is

formally delivered to us again, in

another long essay ^

in

'

on the idea of necessary

connexion,' v/hich differs in title,

little

from those which preceded

more than it.

From

44 this

confusion

which

has happened, that a theory,

it

in part indubitably true,

is

and

in part

indubitably false, has been either adopted altogether, or rejected altogether, without any discrimination of It

errors and

its

its

excellence.

therefore, be expedient, in our ex-

will,

amination of ficiency,

positions,

to attempt to

it,

by arranging

it

remedy

this de-

into a series of pro-

and considering each of these

in

its

regular order.

A cause may be defined * The word

the object^ or event^*"

event might, in strictness

be omitted, and

popular distinction

of language*

retained only in compliance with a

is :

for an event

is

nothing more than

the sudden existence of an object in those particular

cumstances

When

it

in

which alone

precedes

think only of the tion.

Thus,

it

it, in all

circumstances, even the vulgar

object itselfy in

as the sun

cir-

precedes some other object.

is

their reference of causa-

never visible without an in-

crease of heat, they have no hesitation in saying, that the sun is a cause

of heat.

But, when

it is

only in cer-

tain circumstances that one object precedes another,

almost lose sight of the object

itself,

we

and transfer the

causation to some term^ expressive merely of that change

of circumstances, by which the object begins to exist

in

of antecedence.

of

ts particular state

It

is the explosion

gunpowder,

45 which immediately precedes any change, and ivhichy existing

again

in

similar circumstances^

gun-powder, not the mere existence of the gaseous product in

common sion, to

state of

its

we

that

elasticity,

assign, in

language, as the cause of the violent concus-

which the

eventy rather is,

high

To

elasticity gives rise.

than an

as the cause of

object,

consider an

any change,

however, only to go back an additional step

reference,

and to ascribe the

stances immediately preceding

language, are termed

the

in

our

not to those circum-

effect,

which,

it,

in scholastic

proximate cause, but to the cir-

cumstances immediately preceding that proximate cause.

To the

universal priority of causes, there

at least, one apparent exception, in the

in

is,

mode of

name

consider-

ing the phenomena of the world, in relation to the sup-

posed will of the Supreme Being; signed, not to the prior, but to

The Jinal cause Thus, ties

of mind

those

of any thing

as adversity rouses

who

in

is

as the

term

is

then as-

the subsequent, event.

the good \v}i:ch folio zcs

and exercises the heroic

it.

quali-

the sufferer, and the benevolent qualities in

are witnessess of his suffering, a philosophic

optimist considers the production and strengthening of

those virtues, as the final cause of every physical

But

it is

evil.

evident, that, even in this application of the

term, the real impHed cause a double

metonymy, that

The two

events observed

is

it

prior

by us

placed for those circumstances,

have preceded them

in the

;

and

it is

only from

appears to be subsequent. are,

in the expression,

which we suppose to

divine

mind

only, that the consideration of that virtue,

;

and we mean

which adversity

would

46 he always immediately followed hy a

tvill

milar change.

si-

the sequence ob-

Priority in

served, and invariableness of antecedence in

the future sequences supposed, are

the ele-

ments which constitute the idea of a cause.

By

we

a conversion of terms,

obtain a defini-

tion of the correlative effect,*

would tend

to produce,

by which

Ikiofif

was the cause of that divine vo-

adversity exists.

It

is

the

in relation to

Deity alone, that the phrase

is

in relation to his design, that

good, which we term the

final cause,

at all inteUigible

and not the instrumental

observation appears to precede

it,

evil,

was

;

and,

which, to our

in truth the prior

circumstance.

* *

*

Mr Hume,

Similar objects,' says

Of

conjoined with similar.

*

Suitably to this experience,


^ conviction attached in mathematics to cveTy demonsti*ation

of their properties,

is

one of the strongest objections to

Mr. Hume's theory of extend the quotation

more

ty, the

which

may

belief,

still

farther

readily, because

I

I

be permitted, to

I use

the opportuni-

qiiotc

from a work,

?

not professedly written on the subject of ge-

is

nfral ideas, and because the nominalism,

the most prevalent heresy of

them,

is

sics.

Not content with denying

which excludes

modern metaphy-

that separate external

essence of general images,

which was once absurdly sup-

posed,

intellectual conceptions

denies even the

it

selves, as

affections of

mind

the words which express them. suredly, are not insignificant

Yet general terms,

and,

:

them-

existing independently of

if

as-

they be sigMificant,

the implied relation in each cannot be supposed to de-

pend on the word, but the word must have been invented, to express the implied relation. ed, that, in neral,

It

is

indeed assert-

mathematics, the proposition becomes ge-

not because any term

in

the demonstration

understood generally, but because nothing in the demonstration,

diagram

we have ties

;

in ^it'iv, in

is

is itself

expressed

limited to one particular idea, for

example, which

our demonstration of the proper-

of triangles, be that of an isosceles rectangular

angle, the §ides of

we

which

that, although the

is

which

tri-

are of a determinate length,

are, notwithstanding, certain that the

demonstration

extends to triangles of every species and magnitude, be-

cause

15S membra^ which Horace supposes

clique collaia

to

much

be presented to us by a painter, are as

cause there

hypothesis,

no allusion

is

which alone

is *

in it, to that particular species,

On

the object of our conception.

this

be admitted, that the right angle,

will

it

and the equality of two of the

sides,

and the deter-

minate length of the whole, are not expressed

words of the demonstration

the

in

but words are of conse-

;

quence, only as they suggest ideas, and the ideas, suggested by the demonstration, are the same, as particular relations of the triangle at every step.

It

is

if

these

had been mentioned,

not said, that the three angles are

equal to two right angles, because one of them angle, or because the

is

a right

which comprehend that

sides,

angle, are of the same length

;

but

it

is

proved, that

the three angles of the triangle, which has one of angles a right angle, and the sides, which

that angle, of equal length, are together equal to

This particular demonstration

right angles.

is

cable only to triangles, of one particular form.

not infer from

it

its

comprehend

two

appliI can-

the existence of the same property, in

figures, essentially different

for, unless

;

we admit

the

existence of general ideas, an equilateral triangle differs as

much from

square. son.

To

a scalene rectangular triangle, as from a

In both cases, there say, that the

two

is

no m.edium of compari-

triangles agree, in having

three sides, and three angles,

is

to say, that there arc

general ideas of sides, and angles ticularized,

and

meant equal

if

sides,

by the words

:

for, if sideSi

and equal angles, K 3

they be par-

and

it is

angleSf

be

evident, that

the

i54 an object of our

mere verbal

disbelief, in the

were actually depicted

description, as if they

the two triangles, do not agree, in the slightest circum-*

Admitting, therefore, that I can enunciate a

stance.

general proposition, the conception of which

impos-

is

be certain, that the three angles of every

I can

sible,

two right

angles, only

triangle

are together equal to

when

has been demonstrated of triangles, of every

it

variety of figure

have

*

my

it in

The

^

3 1158 00104 3073

'if