As Hume
says,--
" ... it is certain we here advance a very intelligible proposition
at least, if not a true one, when we assert that after the constant
conjunction of two objects, heat and flame, for instance, weight
and solidity, we are determined by custom alone to expect the one
from the appearance of the other. This hypothesis seems even the
only one which explains the difficulty why we draw from a thousand
instances, an inference which we are not able to draw from one
instance, that is in no respect different from them."...
"Custom, then, is the great guide of human life. It is that
principle alone which renders our experience useful to us, and
makes us expect, for the future, a similar train of events with
those which have appeared in the past."...
"All belief of matter-of-fact or real existence is derived merely
from some object present to the memory or senses, and a customary
conjunction between that and some other object; or in other words,
having found, in many instances, that any two kinds of objects,
flame and heat, snow and cold, have always been conjoined together:
if flame or snow be presented anew to the senses, the mind is
carried by custom to expect heat or cold, and to _believe_ that
such a quality does exist, and will discover itself upon a nearer
approach. This belief is the necessary result of placing the mind
in such circumstances.
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