Hume, when referring to the assertion that “one of the consequences of the argument against free will is that we are not responsible for our actions”, states that while we live in a world of irregularities, there are still consistencies within human nature that would be in effect with or without free will. These consistencies allow for the assumption that humans are still responsible for their actions.
Hume believes that humans are consistent. They are not perfectly consistent, but they have consistencies in their nature. He believes that the randomness evident in life is not as purely random as it seems. While some things are down to just luck (like say the lottery) and no human has no influence on it, there are many random events that can be assumed and accounted for. For example, Hume presents the argument of medication. Lets say you take medication for a cold. And this medicine works at curing your cold 999 out of 1000 times. And the 1 instance where it doesn’t does not mean you cannot rely on the medicine, its just a part of the randomness of life. Hume argues that the body, much like life, is incredibly complex. These consistencies (such as the medicine working most of the time) are not absolute, but are so close to absolute that its irrelevant to assume that these small random chances make human nature unpredictable and make humans irresponsible for their own actions.
In Hume’s article, he states that “Should a traveller… bring us an account of men… different from any with whom we were ever acquainted; men, who were entirely divested of avarice, ambition, or revenge; who knew no pleasure but friendship, generosity, and public spirit; we should immediately, from these circumstances, detect the falsehood, and prove him a liar, with the same certainty as if he had stuffed his narration with stories of centaurs and dragons, mirades and prodigies.”. Hume is stating that while there is diversity and randomness within the world, there are still consistencies of which we draw to in human nature. While most are seen as typically negative, such as greed and the goal of promoting oneself over that of their community, they are consistencies nonetheless. Hume is a believer that while these consistencies are enough to ensure that people should be held responsible for their actions.
Words: 387
BrandonC Blog 