David Hume

High school (ages 12+)
Philosophy & Big Questions

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/david-hume

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was David Hume born?May 7, 1711
2. When did David Hume die?August 25, 1776 (age 65)
3. Where was David Hume born?Edinburgh, Scotland
4. What did David Hume think about how we learn new things?He believed we learn only from what we see and feel, not from ideas that are inside us.
5. Why does Hume say we can't prove that one event causes another?Because we never directly see a causal link; we only see events happen together repeatedly, so we think one causes the other by habit.

Empiricism: The philosophical doctrine that knowledge is derived from sensory experience and observation.
Skepticism: A philosophical stance that questions the possibility of certain knowledge or belief.
Problem of Induction: The philosophical challenge of justifying the inference that future events will resemble past events.
Is-Ought Problem: The logical gap between descriptive statements about what is and prescriptive statements about what ought to be.