Unveiling the Mystery of Causation
David Hume, in his three-volume work "A Treatise of Human Nature," divided the science of human nature into three parts: understanding, passions, and morals. In the second chapter of the first part, titled "Of the Origin of Ideas," Hume extensively discusses the concept of causation, which is considered to be the source of the problem of causation. Hume wrote,"By the help of our senses we are enabled to trace one object to another, and from a few simple and obvious principles, to learn the influence of those objects, and how they operate upon each other." Hume raises two questions regarding causation: "First, what is the foundation of all conclusions from experience?—this question I propose as the most sublime of all speculative questions. Secondly, why do we infer effects from causes, and effects in time past from effects in time present and to come?" This is Hume's direct exposition on the problem of causation.
Immanuel Kant, in his discussion of Hume's philosophy, first used the term "Humean problem" to refer to the problem of causation. In his "Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics," Kant wrote, "Hume proceeded mainly from…
