Twain's use of Hume's insights

CDW 1:

Hume felt that knowledge itself is very complicated and that the world, as we know it, is driven by our sensory perceptions and hence cannot be relied. Hume viewed the mind as an empty vessel which was constantly bombarded by our senses, resulting in an array of neurological impulses that are knit together to form more complex ideas. Huck says,“I h’aint seen no fog, nor no troubles, nor no islands, nor nothing.”(Twain 77) to put forth Twain’s views on the perception of the world.This quote explores Hume's empiricist views on inductive logic. The statement itself casts a doubt on one’s senses. Huck states that the fog “don't look natural nor sound natural” and by this implies that our senses cannot be trusted because it may at times mislead us of the world around ( in this case the fog). Huck exclamation - “don’t look natural” also integrates Hume’s Bundle Theory with solipsism whereby the author explores Hume’s description of the world as a “bundle of properties”, which are perceived by our senses; and, when Huck does not trust these senses and questions the world around him, he embodies the concept of Solipsism, the idea in which one question his or her own reality.


CDW 2:

Twain explores Hume’s concept of “sense darda” to establish his religious views using Huck as a medium.“ After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people.”( Twain 16) . In these lines the author satirizes the concept of God and Religion. Twain being an atheist himself supports Hume’s similar views on religion. When Huck states “ I don’t take no stock in dead people.”, he implies a sense of callousness about those who are revered because his inability to get to know them. He implies that without perceiving someone’s existence, he cannot acknowledge them or even worship them for that matter. This has striking parallels to Hume’s logic that without actually using our senses to perceive those around us we cannot actually know “them” and therefore “they” do not exist. Ultimately the idea of God is deducted to nothingness!