What_Binds_the_Effects_to_the_Cause

What Binds the Effect to the Cause According to Hume, the idea of force, power or necessary connection are the most obscure and uncertain ideas that occur in metaphysics, and therefore tries to define the idea of necessary connection, any quality that “binds the effect to the cause” (Solomon, Martin393). In order to define the idea of necessary connections, Hume attempts to search for its sources. Hume examines the idea of necessary connection with external objects, the human will and God. In terms of external objects, Hume rejects any power or necessary connection. A moving billiard ball (A) does not cause the second ball (B) to move. The movement of ball B only follows the movement of ball A through a series of like events. He says, “We only find, that the one does actually, in fact, follow the other […] in an uninterrupted succession; but the power of force, which actuates the whole machine, is entirely concealed from us” (393). We can never speculate what effect will result from an on object from the first appearance of that object. We are not able to imagine that it could produce anything, “or be followed by another object, which we could denominate its effect” (393). We know for a fact that flame gives off heat, but the connection between the two is unknown. Hume then examines if the idea of necessary connection can be “derived from reflection of the operations of our own minds” (394). In order for the idea of necessary connection to be caused by our own will, “we must know the secret union of soul and body” (394). When you want to move your hand, your body follows. However, the connection between mind and body is unknown. Also, we are not able to freely move involuntary organs, such as the heart and liver. “Why has the will an influence over the tongue and fingers, not over the heart or liver” (394), that we do not know. Finally, Hume argues on the idea of necessary connection with God. He says that the generality of mankind believe that God has the power to move objects, “that the true and direct principle of every effect is not any power or force in nature” (397). Instead of a moving billiard ball’s force causing a second ball to move, it is God himself who moves the second ball. However, Hume disagrees and says that, “We are got into fairy land […] Our line is too short to fathom such immense abysses[…] We have no idea of the Supreme being but what we learn from reflection on our own faculties” (398). If we do not know how our own mind is connected with itself and with the body, then we are also ignorant of the connection of the supreme mind with itself and its body. It is “fairy land”. We do not know the necessary connection between objects, so we do not know the relationship between cause and effect. Both the cause and effect, and their relationship, must be known. The command of the mind over itself and its command over the body are limited for unknown reasons. God does not have the influence to cause a second billiard ball to move. It is then interesting that Hume does not provide a source or an idea of power or necessary connection through the ideas he examined: external objects, the human will, and God. He says that, “The necessary conclusion seems to be that we have no idea of connexion or power at all” (399). All we know is that like events follow like events.