Does Humes empiricism lead to determinism?
No, Hume’s empiricism does not lead to determinism; in fact, it puts determinism in question. Determinism is the position that all events are directly caused by other events, and that everything that happens in the world can be reduced toa cause-and-effect relationship. Hume, however, famously questions the reality of causality. Remember that for Hume the mind does not contribute anything to experience. When I see one billiard ball hit another billiard ball, and this second ball moves, according to Hume we have no way of knowing that Ball A caused Ball B to move. All we have is spatial contiguity, the association of ideas, and constant conjuction, and these three criteria do not provide us with knowledge of causality. If Hume is a skeptic with respect to causality, it is impossible for him to be a determinist. Not all empiricists are determinists, and Hume is a clear example.
