# Hume — The Problems of Philosophy character guide

> Hume in The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0007-vi-on-induction

## Snapshot

The empiricist who pushed experience to its limits and found that induction, causation, and the self all rest on nothing firmer than habit.

## Who they are

Hume is the quiet destabilizer of the book's middle chapters: if all knowledge comes from experience, what justifies our confidence that the sun will rise tomorrow or that one event causes another? Russell treats Hume's skepticism not as a dead end but as the honest residue that philosophy must confront, and his questions about induction and causation shape the problem of our knowledge of the external world. He matters because he shows how far empiricism can go before it begins to undermine itself—and because Russell's own answers are measured against that limit.

## Relationships

### [Bishop Berkeley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_problems_of_philosophy_se/characters/bishop_berkeley)

_professional_

Berkeley and Hume are philosophers with overlapping empiricist ideas, though Hume extends Berkeley's arguments in new directions.

## In the story

### [The Problems of Philosophy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_problems_of_philosophy_se/chapters/the-problems-of-philosophy)

Referenced in relation to the principle of induction and general principles of inference.

### [VII: On Our Knowledge of General Principles](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_problems_of_philosophy_se/chapters/vii-on-our-knowledge-of-general-principles)

Mentioned as part of the British empiricist school, which maintained that all knowledge is derived from experience.

### [How a Priori Knowledge Is Possible](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_problems_of_philosophy_se/chapters/viii-how-a-priori-knowledge-is-possible)

Hume is mentioned as a precursor to Kant, who argued that the connection of cause and effect is not a priori and cannot be logically deduced, challenging rationalist assumptions.

### [IX: The World of Universals](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_problems_of_philosophy_se/chapters/ix-the-world-of-universals)

Hume is mentioned alongside Berkeley as failing to perceive the refutation of their rejection of abstract ideas, due to ignoring relations as universals.

### [Bibliographical Note](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_problems_of_philosophy_se/chapters/bibliographical-note)

Recommended work: Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.

## Links

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