人类理解研究

Chapter 5: A skeptical solution to these doubts Section 1 Nor can we assert that the former is the cause and the latter the effect, simply because we see one thing preceding another under one kind of example; such an assertion is really unjustified. Their convergence is either arbitrary and accidental. We may have little reason to infer the existence of the other from the appearance of the one. In a word, then a man without more experience cannot apply his conjectures or inferences to actual facts, and he cannot be sure of anything other than what is directly presented to his memory and senses. This principle is called "habit" or "inertia" (CustomorHabit). For if any action, after repeated repetitions, produces a bias that makes it easy for us to repeat the same action again without any inference or process of understanding, we always say that that bias is habit. But although we apply the word habit, we do not presume to have given the final reason for such a bias. We only indicate a principle of human nature that is generally known, we only indicate a principle of human nature that is known by its results. Therefore, habit is the greatest guide for life. This principle alone can make our experience beneficial and cause us to expect a chain of events in the future similar to the past. Without the influence of experience, we would not know anything other than what is presented to our memory and senses in the present. We would never know how to use our means to achieve our ends, and we would never use our natural abilities to produce any results. If this were the case, all action would immediately cease, and so would most of the thinking.