Why did Hume distrust reason for matters of fact?
My distrust of reason for matters of fact stems from my empiricist framework. Reason, when concerned with abstract relations of ideas (like mathematics), can provide certainty. However, when it comes to 'matters of fact' – the existence of things in the world – reason alone cannot discover truths. This is because the opposite of any matter of fact is always conceivable. Knowledge of facts relies on experience, on sensory impressions, not on abstract ratiocination.
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