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Hume’s Analysis and Skepticism of Causality David Hume was one of the most influential philosophers of modern times. Hume argued that man gains knowledge through experience and that we should be skeptical of all other knowledge. Hume analyzed various aspects of life, but was probably best recognized for his theory of causality. Hume set up criteria for determining cause and effect. These criteria explained his skepticism about causality and why he came to the …

…not a quality or feature of objects. The only connection that is apparent, is therefore, a psychological one, which takes place within the human mind. Hume concludes that cause is “an object precedent and contiguous to another, and so united with it in the imagination, that the idea of one determines the mind to form the idea of the other, and the impression of the one to form a more lively idea of the other."