Loading [MathJax]/jax/output/HTML-CSS/fonts/TeX/fontdata.js
annamiddleton
Mind Map by , created more than 1 year ago

Alevel Philosophy (Hume) Mind Map on The nature of belief and imagination and the difference between them, created by annamiddleton on 08/04/2014.

18
0
0
annamiddleton
Created by annamiddleton about 11 years ago
Rate this resource by clicking on the stars below:
1 2 3 4 5 (0)
Ratings (0)
0
0
0
0
0

0 comments

There are no comments, be the first and leave one below:

Close
The nature of belief and imaginationand the difference between themCONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE: Section V; in the middle of his account of cause & effect. Tries to explain the difference between whathappens when a) one even merely leads me to have an idea of another event that might follow, and b) the occurrence of one eventproduces in me the confident belief that an event is about to occur.1st Distinction: Important link between belief andimagination - both classified by Hume as ideas. Belief: anidea that has a particularly high degree of force andvivacity, in contrast to an idea which is not forceful andvivid, which is a product of the imagination (i.e. a fiction).2nd Distinction: We have no direct voluntary control over ourbeliefs. Hume refers to this to establish the distinction betweenconceiving of an idea with the imagination and actuallybelieving it. Example: "we can, in our conception, join thehead of a man to the body of a horse, but it is not in our powerto believe that such an animal has ever really existed". Myidea doesn't possess the force and vivacity required to make ita belief.Illustration: When I see heavy black clouds in the sky I can imagine lots of things thatcould happen next; that the cloud is in fact a plague of vampire bats that will suddenlydescend on me for example. However, I actually believe that it's about to rain.Difference: my belief feels stronger than the fiction. I am free (within the confines ofpossible impressions) to imagine anything, but I am not free simply to believe anything.Belief has more hold over the mind.Further understanding this distinction: Hume understands both beliefsand impressions as forceful & vivid perceptions of the mind; we arenaturally led to relate the two (something Hume also embraces). Whatdistinguishes belief from fiction is feeling/sentiment (though Humementions that beliefs are the guiding principles of action). Only a beliefthat a certain event will occur can motivate me to act accordingly; incontrast with my merely bringing this same idea before myimagination. eg. my belief that there is a bomb underneath my chairwill guide my actions and likely make me move. However, I do notbelieve this and my capacity to imagine this being the case does notmotivate me to act in any way.Degrees of Belief: Section VI: Certain beliefs are stronger than others.Degrees of belief increase in accordance with:Superiority of Chance: that which is more likely to happen. Eg. A diehas one dot on four of its sides and four dots on the other two. We aremore likely to believe that a one will be rolled, because the chancecreates a bigger impression on us, imprinting itself more firmly on theimagination and transferring its force and vivacity to the idea in orderto produce a belief. Contrast - we wouldn't form a belief about whichside a coin would land on; no superiority of chance.Probability of Causes: that which has happened more often in the past. Eg. firehas always burned; uniform and constant - seems to admit no exceptions.Therefore, we believe that the next fire we come across will burn if we touch it.However, some causes are irregular/uncertain - opium doesn't have a sleepyeffect on everyone. We proportion our belief accordingly - believing moststrongly in those cases where our experience is entirely uniform ("one wouldappear ridiculous, who would say, that 'tis only probable that all men mustdie").Double click this nodeto edit the textClick and drag this buttonto create a new node