Part 2: Why Albert Einstein liked David Hume
00:15 – Introductory quotes from Section 2 of “The Pressure of Light: how consciousness creates permanence in an infinite universe”*, from David Hume² and Albert Einstein³
*https://pressureoflight.ca/the-pressure-of-light/
²https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4705/4705-h/4705-h.htm#link2H_4_0008
³https://einsteinpapers.press.princeton.edu/vol6-trans/410
02:26 – Explaining why Albert Einstein liked David Hume:
Hume’s writing on the indivisibility of space and time was likely inspiring to Einstein.
More importantly, Hume accomplished the difficult philosophical task of describing the human mind, from an epistemological standpoint, as an entity that begins learning about the universe without any pre-set knowledge or capacity to learn about the universe, aside from what static snapshots the senses provide.
08:05 – Some quotes from Einstein about David Hume
09:18 – Overview of how the experiments and my own ideas will be presented
10:12 – Hume’s introduction to his experiments:
For the premise of these experiments, let’s suppose I’m in the company of a person whom I formerly regarded without any sentiments either of friendship or hostility. The experiment therefore has the natural and ultimate objects for each set of passions. I myself am the proper object of pride or humility; the other person of love or hatred.
Imagine the four passions placed in a square, each occupying a corner. Pride and humility are connected together by the identity of their object, the self, and so it is with love and hatred and their object, some other person. These two lines of connection form two opposite sides of the square. The top and bottom are also connected: pride and love are passions experienced with an agreeable sensation; and hatred and humility are passions experienced with an uneasy sensation. I identify these connections with my definitions of ideas and impressions: pride is connected with humility, and love with hatred, (the sides of the square) by their objects or ideas; pride is connected with love, and humility with hatred, (the top and bottom of the square) by their sensations or impressions.
What I will prove with these experiments is that nothing can produce any of these passions without bearing that passion a double relation, one between the ideas and the object of the passion, and one between the sensation and the passion itself.
11:36 – Discussing the Passions as a philosophical subject in Hume’s time, and presenting my take on Hume’s definition of the Passions:
Passions are unique emotions-of-depth, are identified with specific experiences, and have the capacity to persist and return.