Argument on Hume
Your assignment is limited to one page and one page only (single spaced) with one-inch margins, in 12-point type, and black ink. Your paper should consist in ONLY two paragraphs.
Your paper is due to SafeAssign on Compass by 5:00pm on Sunday, February 16, 2020.
Please make sure to upload a document (.doc or .docx) to SafeAssign. Please also name your document file in the following way: Last name_First name_OPP1
Please also take a screen shot of the submission confirmation from Compass.
In the first paragraph you should explain in prose or give a schematization of the argument you are asked to consider. This means that you should state what Hume is trying to prove (the conclusion) and then explain the reasons given to justify that conclusion. That is, why does he think the conclusion is true? (I have reiterated the instructions for each paragraph below after the prompt.)[unique_solution]
In the second paragraph, you should critically evaluate the argument you have just explained by providing an objection to either one of the premises of the link of the argument. To think about your evaluation, first ask yourself a general question like the following: Do you think Hume (in the character’s voice) is right? Is the argument a good one? Is there anything wrong with it? Can I come up with a reason why it doesn’t work (an objection to it)? Then home in on a reason why the argument might be flawed by asking yourself these questions: Is there a premise of the argument that is weak or given the truth of the premises must I conclude what the argument concludes? If not, is there a counterexample to the conclusion? Has the argument established everything that must be established in order to draw the conclusion?” Considering these questions will help you to think about the argument critically. Then make sure to fully explain (give your own reason or reasons for) your evaluation.
Your paragraphs do NOT need to be of equal length, but each must be sufficient to the task.
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On pp. 56-57 of the Perry, Bratman, Fischer text, Hume (in Cleanthes’ voice) says the following:
“Not to lose any time in circumlocutions, said Cleanthes, addressing himself to Demea, much less in replying to the pious declamations of Philo; I shall briefly explain how I conceive this matter. Look round the world: Contemplate the whole and every part of it: You will find it to be nothing but one great machine, subdivided into an infinite number of lesser machines, which again admit of subdivisions, to a degree beyond what human senses and faculties can trace and explain. All these various machines and even their, and even their most minute parts, are adjusted to each other with an accuracy, which ravishes into admiration all men, who have ever contemplated them. The curious adapting of means to ends, throughout all nature, resembles exactly, though it much exceeds, the productions of human contrivance; of human design, thought, wisdom, and intelligence. Since therefore the effects resemble each other, we are led to infer, by all the rules of analogy, that the causes also resemble; and that the Author of nature is somewhat similar to the mind of [human beings]; though possessed of much larger faculties, proportioned to the grandeur of the work, which he[/she] has executed. By this argument a posteriori, and by this argument alone, so we prove at once the existence of a Deity, and his similarity to human mind and intelligence” (PBF, 57).
Your paper should address the following questions:
First Paragraph: What is the main argument in this passage? Make sure to explain in prose or provide a schematization (embedded in prose) of the argument such that you show how the premises (reasons for) lead to the conclusion.
Second Paragraph: Do you think the conclusion of this argument is true on the basis of the reasons given? Why or why not? (See above for some questions to consider in conducting your evaluation.)