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True or False: The two prongs of "Hume's Fork" are impressions and ideas.

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Final answer:

The claim that Hume's Fork consists of impressions and ideas is false; instead, it differentiates between relations of ideas and matters of fact. Impressions and ideas are types of perceptions in Hume's empiricist philosophy, which emphasizes knowledge through sensory experience.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement 'The two prongs of "Hume's Fork" are impressions and ideas' is false. The correct formulation of Hume's Fork is that all the objects of human reason or enquiry fall into two categories: relations of ideas and matters of fact. Impressions and ideas are indeed central concepts in David Hume's philosophy, but they represent different types of perceptions, with impressions being the more vivid sensory experiences and ideas being the less lively thoughts or recollections of these impressions. Hume's Fork, on the other hand, distinguishes between analytical truths that are knowable a priori, such as mathematical truths, and synthetic truths that are knowable through empirical observation.

Empiricism, as proposed by Hume, is the idea that knowledge comes from sensory experience. It contrasts with the notion that some knowledge is innate or can be known through reason alone (rationalism). Hume was critical of the idea that reason alone could lead to certain knowledge, asserting that our reasoning and sense impressions, while persuasive, are not infallible evidence of an external reality.

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