Counterexamples of the Propositions - Essay Example

Likewise, the proposal that there are other things rather than a right that produces more happiness is a counterexample tothe argument that whatever promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people is right. There is a possibility that an individual can receive utility from the wrong action. Lastly, it is not true that all persons have bodies since we do not know whether the person God has a body. Besides, we never know if a person is an idea, imagination, or a thought.

How Counterexamples Contribute to Hume Argument

            Hume proposes that all objects of human reasoning or inquiry are either ideas or matter of facts. Relations of ideas are mostly mathematical verities, and hence irrefutable without making contradictions. Moreover, he maintained that ideas are discoverable by thoughts without necessarily depending on experience. On the other hand, matters of facts are all claims of real existence, and hence a refutation that something exists is certainly not a contradiction.

            Hume argues that cause and effect enable the understanding of the matter of facts. Based on Hume’s argument, the correlation between cause and effect is the solitary means by which the human mind works. Nevertheless, Hume further suggests that conventions of cause and effects are never necessarily factual or genuine. Subsequently, one can easily deny the causal connection between cause and effect without contradiction since such connections are mere assumptions but not subject to reason.