Hume Of the Association of Ideas

Hume explains, in this section, his idea of the connection of ideas. He says there is a regular method to the different ideas of our minds, and the appearance to the memory or imagination. He says even the wildest ideas have some connection to other ideas. He says there appears to be three principles of connexion among ideas: Resemblance, Contiguity, and Cause and Effect. For Resemblance he uses the example of a picture leading our thoughts to the original scene. For Contiguity he uses the example of the mentioning of an apartment in a building leads us to enquire about the other apartments. And for Cause and Effect he uses the example of a wound which leads us to reflecting on the pain which follows it. He says the only way to prove these principle is by volume. The more instances we examine, the more assurance we acquire. All the examinations bind the different thoughts together perpetually, until we accept the principle as general as possible. Like how Locke proves existence by cause and effect of something, and how nothing comes from nothing, this may be also how Hume proves anyting to exist.