... happen to be contiguous - matters of 'fact'. Matters of fact, such as the fact that John Major is PM, possess a truth or falsehood that is only established via experience. Regrettably, a matter of fact, since the opposite of it is logically conceivable (ie, non-contradictory), cannot be fully demonstrated, so humans must infer facts using probability. Inference depends upon the relation between cause and effect - the only means by which we infer the existence of an object which we have not observed, from the existence of one which we have. Experience, in this sense, teaches us little - it is a priori possible that anything could cause anything. `From experience we rely upon the 'uniformity of nature' - that causal relations in the future will remain the same as those previously encountered. Hume gave three reasons for this conviction - that a cause will have a certain effect ...

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