Why your brain relies on habit rather than logic to understand cause and effect
In short: We like to believe our decisions are driven by cold, rational calculation. But the philosopher David Hume argued that our most fundamental beliefs—including the very concept of causation—are actually products of mental habit and custom, not logical proof.
In his monumental work, A Treatise of and Human Nature (1739–40), David Hume attempted to apply Isaac Newton’s experimental methods to the study of human psychology. Rather than relying on abstract reasoning, Hume proposed an empirical investigation into how the mind functions. He distinguished between 'impressions'—the vivid, forceful sensations and emotions we experience directly—and 'ideas,' which are merely faint, secondary perceptions derived from those initial experiences. He drew inspiration from predecessors like John Locke and Francis Bacon, aiming to establish a 'science of man' that could provide a secure foundation for all other sciences.
This distinction led to his most disruptive conclusion: the problem of induction. Hume observed that when we witness one event following another, we see only two relations: contiguity in space and priority in time. We never actually perceive a 'necessary connection' between cause and effect. Instead, our minds develop a 'constant conjunction' of these events. Through repeated exposure, a mental habit or custom forms, leading us to believe that the future will resemble the past, even though this cannot be justified by pure reason. This psychological process relies on the transfer of vivacity across associated perceptions, a concept Hume envisioned as a form of Newtonian psychology.
Hume’s work also challenged the era's rationalists by arguing that human behavior is driven by passions rather than intellect. He famously suggested that reason serves only to facilitate the dictates of our emotions. While the Treatise was not an immediate success—Hume himself later revised much of the material in his 1748 and 1751 Enquiries—it laid the groundwork for modern cognitive science and remains a cornerstone of philosophical empiricism and skepticism. His work also investigated how space and time function, proposing that rather than being infinitely divisible, they consist of fundamental, indivisible points.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: A Treatise of Human Nature
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