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If in ourselves there be no
such faculties as those of the will, and the scientific reason, we must
either have an innate idea of them, which would overthrow the whole
system; or we can have no idea at all.

Word:

ideas

Question:

Why does the absence of faculties like will and scientific reason pose a problem for the understanding of ideas?

Answer (optional):

According to the passage, if there are no such faculties as those of the will and the scientific reason in ourselves, we must either have an innate idea of them, which would overthrow the whole system, or we can have no idea at all. The author also states that the process by which Hume degraded the notion of cause and effect into a blind product of delusion and habit, into the mere sensation of proceeding life associated with the images of the memory; this same process must be repeated to the equal degradation of every fundamental idea in ethics or theology.