Compare or Contrast 2 philosophy thinkers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Compare or Contrast 2 philosophy thinkers - Essay Example s, which are actual sense perceptions, and ideas, which are copies of impressions, connect with one another to form complexities that explain all things. In short, for Hume, the only things that we can possibly know are the impressions that can be perceived by our senses and the ideas that we imagine after seeing the impressions (Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding 201). On the other hand, Kant theorizes that there are three ways or categories where knowledge of the relationship between two things, or subject and predicate, can be derived. These are the analytic a priori, the synthetic a posteriori, and the controversial synthetic a priori. Kant’s analytic a priori is knowing by definition, like believing that â€Å"All single people are people who have not married.† Kant’s synthetic a posteriori is like â€Å"Most sick people are given medicine,† which is merely a belief out of habit. Lastly, Kant’s synthetic a priori is believing somet hing like â€Å"Some dead parents are remembered by their children,† which is a belief from intuition. These beliefs do not require proof as what Hume believed (Durant 269-271). Another difference between Hume and Kant is on their ethical principles. According to Hume’s A Treatise on Human Nature and based on his epistemology, it is our feelings or sentiments that practically influence human volition and action. It is not reason but our feelings and sentiments produce our actions with the same habitual expectation that the future will result from the past. For Hume, morality is doing something because of an â€Å"enduring passion or trait of character in the agent† and without regard for any custom or reason (Cohon). On the other hand, based on Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, morality is performing the categorical imperative: â€Å"Act only according to the maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law,† and to â€Å"act in such a way that [he should] treat