In Hume’s essay I do agree that knowledge is based off experience, which comes through sensation and reflection, but I don’t know if you have to sense something in order to have a reaction in your mind and think about it. I don’t know if it’s possible to have one without the other when I think of a situation. I do know that God’s understanding is incomprehensible to man’s understanding.
The one thing I did find interesting in chapter seven was when it talked about pleasure and pain, and how God has scattered it throughout. Also, how in finding imperfection, dissatisfaction, and want of happiness, we might seek Him who is there is fullness of joy. I don’t understand why there is pain and suffering. I honestly don’t even understand why I’m on day 6 of a toothache and have to go through the pain of that. But I do think Hume has a point when it comes to pain and suffering.
In one of Dr. Mashburn’s classes, God, Evil, and Suffering we talked about Job. In the end Job still had no answers to why he was afflicted, but he praised God more in the end. I think in all the times we feel like we are not good enough, or just plain unhappy, that pain can be turned into pleasure by seeking God. It’s a tough concept and honestly, but pain and pleasure can be related back to sensation and reflection, and how we’re gain knowledge through experiences. If I touch a hot stove as a child, I learn to not touch it again because I associate that with pain. If I see a sunset and think about how God can create something so beautiful I associate that with pleasure. I would rather see a sunset than touch a hot stove any day.
The point is I think that maybe Hume is trying to make is that through things like pain and pleasure, we use our senses (sensations) to reflect (understand) what is going on. Although we can’t see the bigger picture as God can or understand why thing happen, we can still try to question and figure it out.
I commented on Josh and Sydney’s post.
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