Comparative Analysis: Russell's and Hume's Philosophical Perspectives

This argumentative essay provides a critical analysis of two seminal philosophical texts: Bertrand Russell's "The Problems of Philosophy" and David Hume's "An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding." The essay begins by summarizing Russell's exploration of reality and knowledge, focusing on his doubts about common-sense perceptions and his emphasis on the value of philosophical inquiry. It then delves into Hume's empiricist approach, highlighting his skepticism and his focus on the limits of human understanding, particularly concerning matters of fact, causation, and the nature of knowledge. The essay compares and contrasts the two philosophers' approaches, examining their key arguments, epistemological stances, and contributions to philosophical thought. It also evaluates the strengths and limitations of their perspectives, offering a comprehensive overview of their respective philosophies. The essay concludes by synthesizing the core arguments of both texts, providing a comparative perspective on the nature of reality, knowledge, and the limitations of human understanding.

Running head: ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY
Argumentative essay
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Author Note

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Article review on philosophy:
“The Problems of Philosophy” written by Bertrand Russell was published in 1912. Here, the
author attempts to generate accessible and brief guidance to various concerns related to philosophy.
Here, he claims that as the problems are focused, that would lead to constructive and positive
discussion. For this, the author emphasizes on knowledge instead of metaphysics. As this has been
uncertain that different external objects are there, the question arises on how one might know of that
through probability. No reason is left behind to make doubt of the presence of various external
objects just due to the sense data. On the other hand, the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
is composed of David Hume, the empiricist philosopher from Scotland. In 1748 this was published
in English. Besides, this has been the earlier of previous efforts named as “A Treatise of Human
Nature” by Hume. This was published anonymously in London from 1739-40. The author was
disappointed by the way the Treatise was received that "fell dead-born from the press". This is as per
the author have put that and tried repeatedly the dissemination of the more developed concepts for
the public through writing more polemical and shorter work. In the following study, a critical
analysis is done on the aforementioned texts.

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Article Name: “The Problems of Philosophy”
Author’s name: Bertrand Russell
As people go to sleep during the night, people dream. As one wakes from the dream, he now
understands that he is now back to reality. It is a matter of argument that how to do on know that
difference present between the world of dream and reality across that as one is awake. Here, the
study searches for the exact reality. In the study, Bertrand Russell has asked the readers to look
closely at the place where one considers the common sense regarding reality. For that, he points out
at the simple objects, the table and utilizes that as the beginning to explore a few important issued
faced by philosophers throughout the world. The writing is clear as a windowpane and the author
used copious daily instances for illustrating every point. Russell beings with the example of a desk.
There he asked whether he could understand with any sort of certainty and highlights that as the desk
in front is never as strong and is unchanging as it appears. The shape has been changing as per the
viewpoints as the shift in color with light and the texture is smooth as seen from distance and rugged
as seen with a microscope and many more. The authors have used that to lead to systematic doubt,
the system of Descartes which is not believing in anything till is quite certain that it is true. It is clear
that in doing that, it is helpful to reevaluate various things asked by common sense that is real and
true. It is asked that how people understand the sun would be rising again the next day. This has
been rising all day morning previously and one must provide answers based on laws of motion.
Nevertheless, in that case, one must need to ask whether one can know that anything can
happen easily since that occurred in a similar manner in the past countless times. Here, Russell has
provided a wonderful instance of the chicken having food from a human being daily till the person
kills it. The chicken is reasonable to intend food as per the previous happenings and more refined
perspectives as to nature’s uniformity have been helpful for the bird. He has used some kind of

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detailed instances and the same languages for explaining different philosophical ideas and thinking
ways like induction that begins from specific to arrive at the common principle and other particulars.
This also includes a deduction that goes from the common rules to others or to any specific. There he
provided fast portrayals of the philosopher’s view like Hegel and Kant prior to competing for the
summary of the value to study philosophy.
There he admits that various questions that are not answered yet and state that to be virtue
instead of a flaw. The interpretations have forms that can be thought of as an overall
misinterpretation. This has been without any support from Plato. The limitations of universals to the
abstractions that also excludes individuals can be considered as an arbitrary distinction through
which the author truncates the experiences. The logical mistake that must behold influences the
conception profoundly of a contrasting scenario of existence and universals. The dualism divorces
the logic and being of the universe from love and life. However, this seems to be fallacious and bear
a mere formulation of the popular type of prejudices that must go out with his great authority. Here,
the typical universal can be obviously the all-pervading pulse of Plato at one of desire and of
thought. The thing that he calls universals seems to only the barest type of an outline of a
substructure of the world and have a slight claim to the property of the pervasiveness and wholeness
marking the actual universal.
Thus in this review, the view of limits of the philosophical knowledge is highlighted. This
can be strongly agreed with various theological philosophers and can be accepted in a huge measure
of the author’s estimation of the value of the philosophy. This seems to be highly and finely
expressed. The thing that does not ensure that what application was in his mind as Russell censured
the philosophies identifying the universe that is never alien to self. For instance, the ideas of
Bradley, Hegel, Spinoza and Plato are equally described in the language, in phrase carrying the

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author’s approval of the unity of self and not the self. It would be a serious mistake to censure the
philosophies such as there as treating self in the manner that makes it the barrier of thought’s
freedom. Lastly, it can be hoped that the author has never committed that.

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Article Name: “The Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”
Author’s Name: David Hume
Hume’s contribution towards philosophy has been summarized famously by the author
Bertrand Russell. He mentioned that Hume developed the logical outcomes that are the empiricist
philosophy of Berkeley and Locke. This is through making the self-consistent that made that
incredible. The writer of the present text is remarkable in the fact that he has never fled away from
the results that could be unreasonable or unlikely. At last, he concluded with the fact there is no such
smart reason for believing that everything believed for the world that is never that type of bad thing.
It is helped by nature to get by in the place where reason can let people down. This is unquestionable
that Hume has been an empiricist type of philosopher. He has been striving to bring the rigor of the
scientific methodology for bearing on the reasoning of philosophy.
The distinction made by him between different matters of fact and relation of ideas has been
vital at that respect. Further, anything that is said about the word is just a matter of reality. This can
never be justified through experiences and could be denied despite contradictions. Different relations
of the ideas can teach about various mathematical truths. However, this could not be as there are few
rationalist philosophers have taught regarding the presence of selves, God and the external world. As
people are left with just the matters of fact for getting by on this planet.
Nonetheless, one can see himself highly limited in nature. It is to be determined how
previous experience could teach anything about the future. To conclude despite any circularity that
the experiences for the future would be resembling previous experiences that needs few principles
that could never be grounded at previous experiences. Despite the principle, the capability of
reasoning as per the cause and effect is a higher part of the capability to make reasoning having
matters of fact has been curtailed sharply. Nonetheless, one must careful to denote that the way of

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skepticism of the author takes here. Instead of concluding that one never knows any aspect regarding
future events and external worlds, it can be concluded that one is never rationally justified to believe
things that are done.
Moreover, the author never denies that people make specific interferences on the base of
casual reasoning and insists that one can be unable to stay as one never done that. Simply it is also
pointed out that one is mistaken as one thing that these inferences are just the matter justified
through reasoning. This indicates that there is no such ground or proof or certainty of these
interferences.
The book is the concise state of the author’s core philosophical standings. This has developed
the account of the mental functioning of the human mind focusing on the limits of knowledge and
extent of the dependency on the non-rational mental level of habits. Next, it applies the account to
the questions regarding religious understanding and free will before shutting the defense of a
moderate level of skepticism. Moreover, the volume offers useful annotations of readers who are
students with the introduction setting profoundly the effective tasks under the historical and
philosophical contexts. This volume also involves the selection of other activities done by Hume
throwing light on the situations of the genesis of the work and the primary arguments and themes.
This is one of the most vital philosophical activities of Hume and the greatest activities under the
field of Western philosophy. This has involved the substantial introducing and useful annotation
guiding students with that text. Moreover, the volume has involved the choosing of extra shorter
texts that helps to place the primary world under the intellectual contexts.
It is an effective attempt by the author to explain the thoughts. He has been an epistemologist
by nature. Hence, Hume has been concerned with demonstrating what is known and processes by
which that is known. Here, in that book Hume dedicates the section at first to explain the way he has

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been defining epistemology. Next, he put the arguments logically in the areas that progresses and
then compound for creating the overall scenario of human experiences.
It is an attempt for defining principles of human knowledge. In logical format, this poses
notable arguments regarding the kind of reasoning related to matters of experiences and facts. They
reply to them with the recourse of the principle of the effective association. This forms the ground
for the exposition that is a twofold categorization of various objects of the awareness. At the initial
stage, every kind of object is impressions, internal consciousness or data of sensation or the ideas
that are retrieved from that information through transposing, compounding, augmenting and
diminishing.
Thus it can be said that, the human mind never creates ideas and derived them from various
kinds of impressions. Thus, from this very idea, the author has developed the theory of linguistic
meaning. This is the word that never stands indirect way for the impression that has the meaning just
that brings prior the mind of the object that is collected from the influence from one of an effective
process of mind at is just mentioned. Further, in the second place, there are a couple of approaches to
developing meaning.
One of them is the analytical one that focusses on the various relations between the ideas.
Next, there is the empirical one concentrating on the various matters of facts. The concepts could be
held for the mind easily in the form of meaning, the logical relationship to the other that could be
found by the rational type of inspection. For instance, the idea of the plane triangle, that entails
equality of the internal angles of a couple of right angles along with the concept of motion entailing
the concepts of time and space. This is irrespective of whether in reality that are things like motion
and triangles. Just at the level of only meanings.

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The authors analyze, that there is room for an extensive type of demonstrative knowledge.
On the other hand, it comes to mind merely as they have been showing no relation for logic,
properties and links accepted as they are provided. This promise is yellow and the lead has been
heavy. Fire burns are realities and everything shut in itself and is logically barren. As far as the
reason is concerned, each of them is different.
Here, the contrary of all matters of fact that is conceivable. Thus, there is no such logical
demonstrative science of reality. Ere, from that basis the author of the book has developed his
doctrine regarding causality. This concept of causality has been alleged to ensure the needed
connection present within various matters of facts. Now it is to be understood form what type of
impression it is been derived.
For this, the author revealed that no casual type of relationship is present among the data of
senses is to be observed. As anyone regarding any event that is connected casually, all the things that
could be done is to observe that and then uniformly and frequently go together. Thus in this kind of
togetherness, the idea or impression of the event can bring with the idea of the other. Here, a habitual
association s been set up in the mind and a habit. Hence, in that case, the activity of the association is
been felt as the compulsion. Thus, Hume concludes that the feeling is just found as the impression
origin of the idea of causality.
Russell states that whether there is any knowledge that s so much certain that any such
reasonable person could doubt that. The philosophy is an attempt for answering those questions
never dogmatically and carelessly as one might deal in ordinary life and critically. This is after
assessing why and how the questions come out and clarify concepts and assumptions on which they
lie. The classic work of Russell that was first published in the year 1912, has been never supplanted
as the approachable introduction of philosophical inquiry’s theory. This provides the perspectives on

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those subjects as distention between reality and appearance. Presence and the kind of idealism,
matter, knowledge by acquaintance and through induction, description and value and limits of the
philosophical knowledge. On the other hand, Hume’s book starts with the distinguishing differences
present between the ideas and impressions. These are emotional, sensor and vivid imagery. The
concepts are memories, beliefs and thoughts that are related directly to the impressions. Moreover,
the author exemplifies the differences between matters of fact and ideas. Hume poses, that human
beings understand matters of reality predominantly with the observation of cause and effect.
Furthermore, a suggestion is made that people are unable to justify the observations. It is also
proposed that one can never justify further predictions from prior experiences despite the principle
that the future is resembling the past. Interference of people that are concerned with the matters of
facts lies based on almost totally of probability. Most of the treatise demonstrates the analogous type
of relationships present between human and animal thoughts.

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References:
Hume, David. "An enquiry concerning human understanding." Seven masterpieces of philosophy.
Routledge, 2016. 191-284.
Russell, Bertrand. The problems of philosophy. OUP Oxford, 2001.