Hume's Problem Of Induction Essay

Hume’s problem of induction and his solution to the problem are understandable as we do not have complete knowledge of the nature itself.

Hume’s problem of induction argues that what happened in the past cannot give us knowledge about the future. Inductive reasoning is gaining knowledge from conclusions that we see. For example, if the sun rises today sun might not rise tomorrow due to nature. Scientific laws that we know today are all derived from past experiments and observations. Taking the same example as the induction, for many years we have observed that the sun consistently rises and sets and because we observed this we can assume this will happen in the future. Hume says that it is not guaranteed that an event will happen again just

Considering that we all are human being no one knows the real truth behind our knowledge. Talking about the induction, I personally think that it makes sense. Taking the sunrise example, for the time that I was alive in the past, I have observed that the sun sets and rises everyday. But just because I have seen the sun set and rise for 20 years, it cannot be true that we can say the sun will rise and set for another 20 years. We do not know what will happen to the nature next 20 years. But I do also get why this works out in the scientific laws. In science, scientists have had numerous experiments which some of them are repeated. From the same experiment, same results come out which then the scientists assume that it will have the same results in the future. But what I am saying is that just because scientists have performed the experiments numerous times, it still has a chance of a different outcome. Say that you are throwing the ball at a wall. From previous observation and experience, we know that the ball will bounce off the wall. But as all objects are made of atoms, and between those atoms are empty spaces. And in a small chance if the atoms of the wall and the ball are lined perfectly so that it passes right through the ball will pass through the wall.
Hume says just by the past we cannot assume that the same thing is going to happen in the future. Of course the wall and the ball example is one in a million chance, but who knows if that one out of million chance happens