[A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume]@TWC D-Link bookA Treatise of Human Nature PART III 165/176
If constant conjunction be implyed in what we call occasion, it is a real cause.
If not, it is no relation at all, and cannot give rise to any argument or reasoning. Secondly, The same course of reasoning will make us conclude, that there is but one kind of necessity, as there is but one kind of cause, and that the common distinction betwixt moral and physical necessity is without any foundation in nature.
This clearly appears from the precedent explication of necessity.
It is the constant conjunction of objects, along with the determination of the mind, which constitutes a physical necessity: And the removal of these is the same thing with chance.
As objects must either be conjoined or not, and as the mind must either be determined or not to pass from one object to another, it is impossible to admit of any medium betwixt chance and an absolute necessity.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|