Which philosopher claimed that our knowledge of cause and effect is limited to the physical and contingent world?

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The philosopher who famously argued that our knowledge of cause and effect is limited to the physical and contingent world is David Hume. Hume is known for his empiricist approach, suggesting that our understanding of causation stems from our experiences rather than from any inherent connection between events. He contended that we cannot perceive causal relations directly; instead, we only observe events occurring in sequence. This leads to the conclusion that our knowledge is necessarily confined to observable phenomena within the physical world and does not extend to metaphysical or necessary causal connections that go beyond that realm. Hume's skepticism about causation challenges philosophical notions of certainty and has had a profound influence on subsequent epistemology and philosophy of science.

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