“Ladies and Gentlemen in the corner to my left, sporting his authentic green kilt and weighing in at a massive 297 pounds! He’s got a brutal right cross and a terryifying left jab! He’s the skeptic philosopher who won’t take Yes for an answer! All the way from Edinburgh Scotland, everybody put your hands together for DAVID HUME!”
David Hume (1711) stands out in philosophical history for the absolutely fearless consistency of his skeptic reasoning. The definition of a skeptic is a person who needs clear and observable evidence (based on experience) before acknowledging it as truth. Hume’s revolutionary views concerning the reevaluation of metaphysics frightened many people including religious authorities. In fact, after studying his predecessors, John Locke and George Berkley, he was quoted saying that he would “never entertain the idea of religion again.”
Hume strongly believed that humans must distinguish ideas from impressions. He taught that the only way to truly “know” anything is to first experience it sensually. Therefore, anything which cannot be defined by the senses is, for lack of a better word, bunk. He concluded that the three transcendental ideas of God, self, and the universe, hold no relevance because they can’t be clearly defined by the senses. Hume was not an atheist though. He merely believed that we did not know enough to either deny or confirm the existence of God and therefore the argument is deemed meaningless. His agnostic view eventually resulted in his exile to France where he underwent what philosopher Richard Watson calls a “Skeptic Crisis.” In only six weeks he gained sixty pounds and continued feeding his face and remained a fat, jolly fellow for the remaining years of his life.
Hume strongly apposed Egoism and instead supported the idea of Altruism. Altruism is the capacity to care for the welfate of others instead of you and you alone. Hume also realized the profound grasp science had on the shirt collar of Western society. He understoof the limits of science and believed that scientific reasoning rests solely on casual patterns of inductive reasoning. For example, Sir Isaac Newton only observed a select number of bodies to conclude that they are subject to gravity. Scientists assume that these conclusions are accurate because they reveal casual patterns (much like meterologists and the weather). If Hume is correct then the idea of cause and effect has no means of useful application. In other words: “Never” say “never” or make generalizations.
Yet, on of Hume’s most profound skeptic views was his refusal to believe in personal immortality. This discouraged family and friends of Hume who wished him to sacrifice his philosophy in order to save his soul. While on his deathbed they tried desperately to dissuade him. He replied saying “It is a most unreasonable fancy that we should exist forever.”
“And in the corner to my right, dawninghis top hat and spats and weighing in at a measly fifteen pounds! He’s a mean little marmot with a stunning uppercut! All the way from Punxatawny, Pennsylvania! Watch out, he bites, let’s her it for Punzatawny Phil!!!”*
As legend has it, the infamous groundhog emerges from his hole every year on the second day of February in order to see if winter is over. If he sees his shadow winter will last six more weeks forcing the ground hog to return to hibernation. However, if no shadow is seen winter is over, or so the tradition goes. In a sense, the groundhog paced the way for some of the most shoulder shurgging fortune tellers of modern science; meteorologists, thanks a lot Phil.
In Harold Ramis’ hit film Groundhog Day (1993) Davide Hume’s skeptic philosophy is wonderfully applied. The story begins with meteorologist anchorman, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) live in action. Phil is not a very nice man. In fact, he’s a real jerk. It is the first day of February, Phil and his crew speedily prepare for their annual trip to the Groundhog Day ceremonies in Punxatawny, Pennsylvania. As phil heads out the door his producer introduces him to his new crew member, Rita (Annie McDowell). Rita is friendly, outgoing, and compassionate. She is everything Phil despises.
The next mornign Phile wakes to a small town Pennsylvania hotel room. From the very beginning of his day everything goes sour. For starters, the alamsounds to Sonny and Cher’s “I got you babe.” He burns his toast, steps into a huge puddle, runs into an obnoxious insurance salesman from his past, and to make things worse: there’s talk of a blizzard. Phil is optomistic though. He quickly retorts claiming that the storm will pass by and that his “chances of departure are one-hundred percent.”
The groundhog Phil and Phil Connors both share striking similarities. Aside from sharing the same name, both firmly believe they can predict the weather. Their blind faith in the generalzied cause and effect of their unductive reasoning leaves them with an over inflated ego. Or, to put it outside of Humean terms, they are just a little too sure of themselves.
Much to Phil Connor’s dismay, he discovers the highway out of town has been closed due to a massive blizzard. Phil is stuck in small town hell with his foot in his mouth. He reluctantly makes his way back to the hotel so he can take a hot shower only to find out that there’s no hot water. What a terrible day. Yet, the next morning he wakes up to the same thing; Sonny and Cher, burnt toast, a huge puddle, and an annoying insurace salesman. Phil is reliving the same day over and over and over again for what could be an eternity. He now understands what Hume meant about personal immortality, “a most unreasonable fancy.”
Nevertheless, Phil eventually takes a liking to his situation. He can do pretty much whatever he wants to, and he does. In one scene he even undergoes a “skeptic crisis” of his own. He proceeds to gorge himself with all sorts of elaborate meats and pastries, much like Hume did. He finds a wide variety of ways to entertain himself but after a while it all seems so pointless and boring to him. He wants to die, and he does. He commits suicide in almost every practical way but somehow every morning he wakes up to Sonny and Cher. One image I particularly enjoyed is when Phil takes a majestic swan dive off the top of a tall church. Symbolically, it is Hume taking that swan dive. It is Hume turning his cheek to the idea of a God and an afterlife. He calmly and majestically demands proof.
Phil suddenly ponders that if he were to fall in love the spell might somehow be magically broken. He attempts to court Rita continually but always fouls up in the end. He tries so hard and calculates everything but just can’t seem to get it right. He finally decides to come clean and tell Rita of his predicament. She is surprisingly supportive and bot engage in what they call a “science experiment”. Their plan is to stay up all night in order to see what really happens when morning finally arrives. As Hume would expect, their experiment fails miserably when both of them fall asleep. However, something does happen in the midst of all the scientific trial and error. Phil actually begins to care more for Rita than he does for himself. He is quickly on his way.
Phil soon becomes this sort of super hero meteorologist guy. He leaps from here to there, buying coffee for his crew, saving a young boy from falling out of a tree, performing the Heimlich maneuver on strangers, and giving food to the poor. He becomes Saint-like. Phil has discovered a sense experience which he has never experienced before, love. He learnst that love is caring for the welfare of others before your own. He now practices Hume’s belief in Altruism.
As Phil wakes the next morning, that damned Sonny and Cher screech of their number on chart topper, when suddenly a small hand reaches across and delicately turns off the alarm. Rita is lying next to him. He first pinches her (sense experience) to see if it is only a dream. He then kisses her (sense experience) just to make sure that he knows she is real. It really worked. “Today is tomorrow!” The spell has finally been broken and the happy couple can now live happily ever after. Until they die anyway. After that, who knows?
What a fight! Ladies and gentleman, the winner and still remaining heavyweight champion, DAVID HUME! Simply amazing! This match will go down in the history books as “the fight for a lifetime!!!”
Chief
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