An Essay on Knowledge (Plato, Descartes, and Hume)

            One critique of Hume I do have, however, is how he seems to be biased in some of his arguments by his atheism or extreme skepticism.  When speaking of the “secret power” he constantly was discrediting many other philosophers for crediting God to being the connecting piece between cause and effect.  I do not see how he could make such a bold statement himself since he has no idea what the power is either.  Even if it is not directly God Himself, it seems very possible that God may be using natural principles (that are yet to be understood) to be the power.  However, Hume does not seem to be interested in debating this subject and seems more interested in discarding ideas without a more thorough investigation. 

            Each of the three philosophers presents a unique perspective on attempting to solve the mystery of knowledge.  Plato suggests that knowledge and truth is more based on the individual.  Descartes proposes more of God-centered theory, stating that we can trust reality and have knowledge since we have removed doubt.  Hume states that the true knowledge is hidden in the “secret power” that lies between cause and effect.  None of these concepts truly capture the complete essence of knowledge, but each plays a part the search for it.  After all, as Socrates and Theaetetus showed us, it is the act of searching for knowledge that causes our efforts to be fruitful. 

Works Cited

Answers.com. Biography: Thomas Edison, Inventor. http://www.answers.com/topic/thomas-edison.

Klement, Kevin. Lectures: Descartes. September 16, 2001.

http://people.umass.edu/klement/100/descartes-lect.html

Newman, Lex, “Descartes’ Epistemology”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/descartes-epistemology/>.