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Articles

How I Solved Hume’s Problem and Why Nobody Will Believe Me

Eugene Earnshaw saves Western philosophy.

It was a few years ago that I solved the biggest problem in philosophy. I was teaching undergraduates, and I wanted to blow their minds a little, tear down their preconceptions. As one does. So I taught them Hume’s Problem, and then solved it for them, which I hadn’t expected.

Hume’s problem is probably less well known than Descartes’ skeptical argument (a being with Godlike powers could trick you about everything, so you don’t know anything, because there’s no way you can know you are not being thusly deceived).

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